Month: Jul 2025

Located in the Perry Sandhills is a magnificent Murray River Red Gum Tree (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), which is over 500 years old. Over time, the sand has completely covered the trunk of the tree (perhaps 15’ to 20’), so that you are able to stand in the canopy of this age-old tree – a magnificent sight!

The God Tree can be found a ten minute drive from Wentworth in NSW via a sealed road, it’s located on its own, slightly to the left of the driveway and over the first sand dune. From this point you get a great view of this remarkable area, only 5km from the confluence of Australia’s two greatest rivers, the Murray & Darling, yet you could be in the Sahara desert.

The Perry Sandhills are named for George Perry, the first Land Commissioner to serve this area. Moorna Station, just past the Sandhills, was where the visiting dignitaries stayed whilst in the area – (Moorna was to become a new town and surveyor pegs are still able to be found on the property). The dunes are located just outside of Wentworth, (6km from PO), on the Old Renmark Road and are a unique land formation of continuously shifting sand dunes.

The four hundred acres of rolling red sandhills are geologically traceable to the Barkindji Aboriginal people and also the last Ice Age (approximately 40,000 years ago). Aboriginal burial grounds are in the vicinity of the dunes, (Snaggy Bend), and artefacts and fossils of Australia’s giant mega-fauna (large bear-animal – diprotodon; huge kangaroo – procoptodon golia; marsupial lion – thylacoleo; giant emu – genyornis newtonii and giant goanna – megalania prisca), have been found. Local artist Jim Curry has created mega-fauna replicas of the above mentioned and they can be viewed in a diorama at Wentworth’s Rotary Pioneer Museum. Also, bones of smaller animals, such as the hairy-nosed wombat, bilby and bettong, have been located in the dunes

The Pioneer Museum has good information which explains the early archaeological conditions in the area and how the dunes were formed. The archaeological ‘treasures’ indicate the area is of the same timeframe as Mungo National Park. However, the red sand of the region is highly fertile and with water available from the Darling and Murray Rivers, the district produces the grapes and citrus that Sunraysia became famous for when WW2 returned soldiers were granted small holdings of land.

The sandhills were used as a bombing range during WWII. Now, the area is used as the location of filming many scenes from Australian and international films, including “The Man from Snowy River II”, “Burke & Wills”, “Flying Doctors” and “Boney”. The children’s television series, “Ocean Girl” and “Thunder Stone”, have utilised the Sandhills for scenes, and the dunes have been used for many television commercials and also music videos (including Slim Dusty’s ‘Looking Forward – Looking Back’).

https://www.thedarlingriverrun.com.au/directory/explore-perry-sandhills/

🌲 The World’s Oldest Tree — OLD TJIKKO (9,567 years old!)

Deep in the wilderness of Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden, stands a lone Norway Spruce named Old Tjikko — an ancient survivor that began its life over 9,567 years ago, shortly after the last Ice Age ended.

Discovered by geologist Leif Kullman of Umeå University in 2004, at an altitude of 1,100 meters. Old Tjikko holds the title of the oldest known living clonal tree on Earth.

It stands 5 metres (16 ft) tall. The trunk of the tree may die and regrow multiple times, but the tree’s root system remains intact and in turn sprouts another trunk. The trunk may only live for about six hundred years, and when one trunk dies another eventually grows back in its place.

The tree’s age was determined by carbon-14 dating of the root system, which found roots dating back to 375, 5,660, 9,000, and 9,550 years before 2008. Its root system has persisted long before the construction of the pyramids, the rise of civilizations, and even the invention of writing!

Just imagine what this ancient tree has witnessed:

🌊 Rising and falling sea levels
🐾 The migration of countless species
🏞️ The changing of entire ecosystems
🌦️ Millennia of storms, winters, and summers

Old Tjikko is a silent storyteller — a living testament to the power of resilience, adaptation, and nature’s deep time.

In a rapidly changing world, this ancient spruce reminds us of the enduring beauty and fragility of our planet.

Old Tjikko is a symbol of cultural and historical significance. It has been venerated by the Sami people, who have inhabited the area for thousands of years. The Sami people believe that is a symbol of life and renewal, and have been known to make offerings to the tree.

The tree has also been a source of inspiration for many writers and artists. It has inspired works of art such as the poem ‘The Old Tree’ by Swedish poet Gunnar Ekelöf, and the painting ‘Old Tjikko’ by Swedish artist Gustav Vigeland.

On July 1, 2024, it was reported that the Stockholm-based art studio Goldin+Senneby were building a climate-controlled installation at a new hospital campus in Malmö, Sweden. The installation houses a clone of Old Tjikko and was created using small twigs cut from Old Tjikko’s top branches, which were then grafted onto stems of other spruce trees. This process would thus result in saplings with DNA identical to that of Old Tjikko.

Beauty of Planet Earth Facebook Page.

Wikipedia

Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the mulberry and fig family Moraceae. It is native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland in the north to the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The infraspecies Ficus macrophylla f. columnaris is endemic to Lord Howe Island. Its common name refers to Moreton Bay in Queensland. It is best known for its imposing buttress roots.

DESCRIPTION – Ficus macrophylla is a medium to large, spreading tree 15 to 35 metres high with a similar spread. It often has a butressed trunk. In nature it is a strangler fig – the seed germinates in the canopy of a host tree where the plant grows as an epiphyte while sending down roots to ground level, eventually enlarging and enveloping the host tree and becoming free standing. The large leaves are oval-shaped to elliptical 100-250 mm long, dark glossy green above and rusty beneath. The fruits are 20-25 mm in diameter, yellowish and turning purple when ripe. They occur on stalks from 10-20 mm long.

The oldest known Moreton Bay fig tree (Ficus macrophylla) is estimated to be around 270 years old and located in North Booval, Ipswich, Australia according to Ipswich First. It predates European settlement and is considered a significant heritage tree.

Planning, Development and Heritage Committee Chairperson Cr David Morrison said the tree has a wide and extensive canopy and buttress root system and is approximately 18m in height with an approximate canopy diameter of 30m.

CULTIVATION – The Moreton Bay fig has been widely used in public parks in frost-free areas, and was popular with early settlers of Australia. Around the beginning of the 20th century, the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Joseph Maiden, advocated the planting of street trees, generally uniform rows of the one species. He recommended Moreton Bay figs be spaced at 30 m (100 ft) intervals—far enough to avoid crowding as the trees matured, but close enough so that their branches would eventually interlock. Specimens can reach massive proportions, and have thrived in drier climates; impressive specimen trees have been grown in the Waring Gardens in Deniliquin, and Hay.

They can withstand light frosts and can cope with salt-laden spray in coastal situations, and their fruit is beneficial for urban wildlife. However, their huge size precludes use in all but the largest gardens, and their roots are highly invasive and can damage piping and disrupt footpaths and roadways; the vast quantities of crushed fruit can be messy on the ground.

USES – The soft light timber has a wavy texture and is used for cases. Aboriginal people traditionally use the fibres for fishing nets. The fruits are edible and taste like other fig varieties.

References

Australian Native Plant Society {anpsa.org.au}

en.wikipedia.org

http://www.ipswichfirst.com.au

Roger Walker, For the Love of Trees fb