The National Trust of Western Australia will be celebrating National Eucalypt Day on Tuesday 23 March.
The annual event run by Eucalypt Australia aims to raise awareness of eucalypts and to celebrate the important place they hold in the hearts and lives of Australians.
The National Trust keeps a Register of Significant Trees in Western Australia, a number of which are Eucalypts.
The latest to be assessed for inclusion in the Register is the ‘Stewart Tree’, a Karri tree (Eucalyptus diversicolor) on the Donnelly River near Manjimup. At more than 83 metres, the Stewart Tree is considered to be the tallest known Karri in the world, the tallest tree in Western Australia and a fine example of the third tallest tree species in Australia.
This particular tree is named after forester Don Stewart, who was responsible for the tree-top lookout platforms in the Karri forests as a fire warning system. Communication between the tree-top watchtowers was by signal light and Morse code, allowing swift responses in a fire emergency.
Eucalypts form part of threatened ecological communities throughout Western Australia, a number of which are protected by the National Trust’s conservation covenanting program. The program assists landholders to protect the natural heritage values on their properties. Covenants have been registered over 62,000 hectares of private land protecting more than 17,000 hectares of bushland across the state.
Photo credits
- Gimlet: A fine example of the beautiful tortuosity of Eucalyptus salubris, a species well loved across the eastern wheatbelt and into the Goldfields. Photo by Diana Papenfus from the National Trust
- Ribbon-barked gum: This Eucalyptus sheathiana displays an unusual expression of mallee (multi-stemmed) habit. The large bulbous trunk is its lignotuber, which usually is invisible as it exists underground. This tree is located in the eastern wheatbelt on a private property and protected by a National Trust conservation covenant. Photo by Diana Papenfus from the National Trust
- The Stewart Tree: This image and main page image by Nancy Jones from the Stewart Karri Tree Facebook group.
