JOINT WINNER

Our children’s “Magic Tree” is a 640cm River Red Gum. When our children were small we had Sunday and holiday walks, the destination the Magic Tree. We shared picnics and play time on the roots, limbs and gravel around the tree. It was a time to use their imagination and explore the big world. If they were lucky they might see a possum or other wildlife. It’s just a beautiful tree.

JOINT RUNNER-UP

Grading a ‘trees’ own worth?

Grasping humble sod and patient time

Moulding carbon to define

Tales so much greater

Than those penned by a human orator!

Stretching tall, brave and bold

A shape, a presence, a blessing to behold

Cradling fine critter majesty

Bounty and nature’s mystery

This humble tree bares witness;

Grazing creatures, cockies streaky mess

Swollen stream, chilly frosted fence

Drought, smoke and human intransigence

At age of three I played beneath this tree

Which celebrates life so wild and free

While reaching on in peaceful repose

What is this trees future do you suppose?

Our favourite tree is situated behind our house.  In July the white faced herons returned to renovate their nest from last year where they raised two children.  Their children from other years have also returned to build their own nest, last year their nest was blown from the tree, but they stayed around to help their parents raise their younger siblings.  In October the rainbow bee-eaters arrive on mass into our tree, they then head out in small family groups to find their burrows from previous years. Other birds that can be found in our tree throughout the year include Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, Magpies, along with many of the grass finches including red browed fire tails.

When we moved to Bells Flat Road, we met our neighbour Robert Britton who had lived in the house two doors up all his life. Robert gave us a copy of a photograph of his family, with the magnificent Manna Gum in the background. Clearly this tree means a lot to him and similarly for our family it has become a symbol of our home. It is home to possums, kookaburras, ducks, cockatoos and visiting birds like black cockatoos. The tree holds other stories too: an old fence paling now incorporated in its bark hangs 5m from the ground.

This beautiful “weeping red gum’ has always been a family favourite for eight generations. Low, dense shade, covering a wide area, along with a maze of interlocking limbs, sets it apart from neighbouring red gums. It has been a great “picnic” tree on the banks of the Kiewa river for eight generations of the Connor and Barton families since 1856. This is the spot where family history and the associated stories have been passed from one generation to the next.

My favourite tree was a big old Blue Gum. Unfortunately, in the 2009 fires it burnt so fiercely, that it didn’t recover. It burnt like a huge candle for hours after the fire front had passed. It was a prolific seed producer, so it became my seed tree parenting most of the Eurabbies in our revegetation projects. I hadn’t been back to look since the fires, as it was too sad.  On visiting it to take a photo for this competition, I was so happy to see that 6 young trees have revegetated! Nature is amazing! As the first “offspring” trees were planted in 2002, it shouldn’t be too long before they will produce seed and the tree will go on!

Four generations of Wallacedale children have climbed these gnarled twining branches, creating marvellous imaginary epics of heroism and adventure or spent quiet moments reading, listening to the wind speak, learning about the creatures that call the Twin Tree home. Cattle have rubbed the lowest branches to a silky smoothness, other branches grow through each other making windows and portholes, perfect for tree games and the magnificent whorly bark is like ancient runes telling long forgotten stories that only the tree remembers. Through the years this tree has watched everyone come and go, embracing and teaching each new generation within its branches.

Beneath Mt. Jaithmathang, grows a magnificent snow gum. To see this impressive tree, is to feel a sense of awe at all that it has witnessed. This rare tree has survived a century of fires. It would have seen the first inhabitants on pilgrimage to feast on Bogong moths. Later, cattlemen built huts and yards for the annual muster. Later still, it would have witnessed men, who built roads, dams and power stations. This challenging work helped many recover from brutal war experiences.Regularly, this giant would see hikers and skiers drawn to this land of peaks and open vistas.

This majestic tree has overseen the life of Aboriginal and European settlement over a number of centuries. It could possibly tell us how the Lagoon Hotel burnt down. It is located behind the stand-pipe at Kiewa and near the site of the former Kiewa CFA.

Apart from its great girth (620cm), this tree has an enormous spread of huge and appealing branches which make it a majestic and awesome sight when viewed from below.

You have to see our big tree to love it. It is a green gentle giant loved by us and our livestock. With its wonderful tessellated trunk we have even had our daughter’s wedding photos taken under it. We would love a preservation order on it. Our Favourite Tree: Kurrajong Brachychiton populneus

I am 70 years old and when I was a child I lived near and loved this tree. My father was born in 1904 and he lived all his life near this tree. He said it was just as it was when he was a boy. My grandfather who was the first white person born in the district lived nearly all his life near the tree. The tree is large, but especially wonderful is the health of the tree. When you stand underneath it and look up into its branches, fifteen metres from the ground the limbs are as large as some gum trees. If only it could speak! I wonder who may have sheltered under it hundreds of years ago?

This tree stands tall and majestic beside a lagoon metres from the Rail Trail. It is an eye catching sight for people enjoying the magic of this location. A regular user of the Rail Trail thinks this tree would be the perfect location to take a photo of all her family members sitting on a different branch. The trail is at the top of the embankment and as you walk past, it feels as if you are in the tree top amongst the chirping birds.

This enormous tree defines our home. When we look at it we think back to the hours of fun on the rope swing, especially when it broke spectacularly. The laughter and grazed knees in the old tree house, the shelter it provided for our naughty pig, and the families of possums, kookaburras and galahs that live in its boughs. We think of the miners who gathered under it, and the droughts and floods that it has witnessed. But most of all, I think of the original guardians of this land who would have been surrounded by magnificent trees such as this.

This beautiful River Red Gum stands by the Kiewa River close to the High Country Rail Trail river crossing. Once, when I was on the bridge six kookaburras chorused to me from the branches as I stood and gazed. I have painted this tree several times. The tree gives peace and tranquillity to anyone who dares to stop and gaze at its beauty.

The Mailbox Tree is on the Lees-Morrison Rd in Murmungee. It would be over 200 years old as I can remember it when I was a kid, and I am 80 now. We used to have a spell under it in summer when droving sheep and cattle. It is a beautiful Red Gum, measuring 27 feet around the girth. The bolt that used to hold the mailbox still remains. The mail was delivered to the local Post Office by Mr Dave Hume and then Mr Max Sonneman from Beechworth by horse and gig until motor transport came along. After being sorted at the local Post Office, the people on Lees-Morrsion Rd would ride a horse or go in a horse and gig to collect it. Each neighbour would take it in turn to collect. This beautiful tree looks like it will live another 100 years and still tell another story or two.

These are compiled responses from the students in the P-2 room at Dederang Primary School. Our favourite tree is the biggest tree in our school. It is a gum tree and it is outside our classroom window.

We like this tree because:                  

We like watching the birds in the nest box

We like sitting under the tree in summer.

We like the smell of the leaves.

We like it how the tree feels rough at the bottom and smooth at the top.

We like the birds that land in the tree.

Sometimes the tree drops big branches that we can use to build huts.

We like it because it cleans the bad air for us and gives us clean air.

Insects live on the tree and the birds love the insects.

Our tree measures 321cm around the circumference

JOINT RUNNER UP

I have two favourite trees. They are not tall and majestic, graceful or beautiful. Instead, misshapen, twisted and contorted. A Red Box and a Stringybark, they have battled on for decades withstanding drought, deluges and grazing animals. I admire their resilience as they still survive and best of all the wonderful memories evoked of carefree childhood days. Of riding my pony “Splash” past, mustering sheep, dogs in tow, stopping to play and climb in them, my imagination running riot at their wonderful, crazy shapes.