In 2012 Meg and I built a house. This meant we had to remove three Eucalypt trees but we went through quite a saga trying to save one other tree – growing on the block next door. In April 2013 I wrote about this and posted it on ABC Radio National, The Pool, which was running a project on special trees. With a strict 200 word limit this was a lesson in getting to the essentials of a story. See it below …
The lucky tree
Last year we built a house on the NSW south coast. Next door is a very large rough barked apple, Angophora floribunda. A handsome tree, in a twisted way, its contorted limbs suggesting arthritic knees and elbows. Not that the birds and insects mind.
It towers over our building site and, sadly, we thought it would need to come down. Our neighbours were happy with that prospect, provided we paid. We had an arborist inspect it – a bloke who doesn’t rely on his chainsaw for his living. He said it was a very healthy tree, been there since before white people came to the area. Got a very long life ahead of it, and, looking me in the eye, “It’ll be there long after we’re gone, if you don’t wreck it when you build your house”.
Over the following days we concluded we weren’t emotionally equipped to cut it down. We had to sack an engineer who didn’t think trees and houses could co-exist. It cost a lot in time and money but we gained a lot–and it’s still there, with its glorious knees and elbows. We’ve renamed it Angophora floribunda fortuneii, as it’s very lucky, as we are.
