By Beatrice Hawkins
As I am writing this, I am sitting behind glass in the sun listening to a cold south westerly wind blow and watching the shiny green leaves of a grey box tree with the sun shining on them dance in the wind.
I often wonder what the original English settlers thought of our very different trees in this country, and especially as they moved further west.
I delight in our Australian bush in all its variances.
Having grown up on the central coast of NSW, I like the look of the tall straight eucalyptus that grow in that region and then the blue haze over the mountains west of Sydney, speaks of a different type.
Further west, I like the olive green of weeping myall and the trimmed lower leaves of the wilga trees where the stock have pruned them as level as if it had been done to a string line.
The immature blue grey leaves of the mugga iron bark are so decorative to use in flower arrangements or just on their own.
Combined with stems of red hot poker flowers, they look spectacular.
Kurrajongs and bottle trees are amazing sights when in flower with the pretty cream bells in bunches. Such a useful tree for stock feed. Many head of livestock have been kept in good condition by lopping these trees for drought feed.
As I have driven about recently, I have seen some very dark red gum tips and remembered that they were one of my mother’s favourite things to have in the house for their looks as well as the lovely smell of eucalyptus.
Gidgee is another favourite tree for the pungent smell emitted before rain, once experienced never to be forgotten, and there really is nothing to compare to sitting around a fire of gidgee coals on an outback winter’s evening and watching the colours of the eastern sky as the sun sets in the west. It always amazes me with the deep blue shading through mauve to pink and finally pale peach. From my bedroom window in Warwick, I am able to watch the same happen in the western sky as the sun rises. What a glorious way to start the day!
Belahs and she-oaks also have a place in my heart with the wind sighing through their branches.
Go south into the snow country and the trees are different again, with snow gums growing closer to the ground and not so tall as their counterparts in the less severe climates. Some of the most colourful bark I have ever seen on trees was in this area outside Jindabyne. Stripes of many shades of green, pinks, yellows and browns mingled together – stunning.
When I visit WA, I am always thrilled by the diversity and different vegetation over there. It is so different from anything I have seen on the east coast. Bright green/yellow banksias, others that look, at first sight, as if a flock of galahs have landed in the tree. Bright orange flower heads that are as big as a litre jug on yet another shrubby banksia. Beautiful red pin cushion hakeas, pink and purple Geraldton wax in full flower along roadsides and so many more that I can’t put names too.
The boab trees of the north west of WA that look as if they are truly, as Aboriginal legend has it, growing upside down!
Old growth Jarrah forests are a delight, and the home to the beautiful forest red-tailed black cockatoo, calyptoyhynchus banksii naso. Unfortunately, many areas are being clear felled and burnt to make way for bauxite mining in an area I visit each year and thereby destroying a vital habitat for these lovely birds. There are five species of these birds spread across Australia, but this particular one is only found in a small area south east of Perth. Flocks are now uncommon as they rely on old growth, mature trees for nesting hollows. They live for between 25-50 years, but are slow breeders with eggs taking 29-31 days to hatch and a further 18 months before the juveniles are ready to fully fend for themselves.
Tuart and tingle forests are great, and few trees can compare with the Kauri trees of the south west of WA for sheer size and grandeur. They are the third tallest tree in Australia reaching heights of 90 metres. I saw the “Gloucester tree” near Pemberton one wet morning with my grandchildren and the adventurous three-year-old had to be restrained from climbing the spiral ladder provided for tourists!
How disconcerting these giants must have been to English settlers that arrived in the 1920s after winning a farming block in a ballot that they imagined was for an English style dairy farm, only to find it completely unfenced, miles from anywhere, covered in huge trees and given a tent to live in. Hardy folk our pioneers!
The lovely flowering gums of WA are always showy with the different coloured blossom and an avenue leads the way from the highway to the town where my daughter lives. The silver grey leafed weeping gum with brilliant red blossoms with dainty silver caps makes a showy specimen in many parks and gardens.
Probably my favourite of all is a eucalypt with red terminal stems and clusters of brilliant yellow blossoms that erupt from a bright red square nut. It is the eucalyptus erythrocorys, “Illyarrie”. A blossom appears at each corner of the nut, making a very large powder puff of golden yellow with, when they have just opened, a cute red square cap on top. I’ve seen these caps used in jewellery and the base of the nut used as candle holders.
Then, of course, we have the great diversity of smaller shrubby trees such as bottle brush, grevilleas and glorious wattles to brighten the under-story. The great variety of foliage, shape, style, colour and flowers are a sight I continually delight in as I wander about this wonderful country of ours.
*This is an old article that has been digitised so our readers have access to our full catalogue.
