In Western Australia, a centuries-old natural beauty has been destroyed, infuriating the locals.
In the Ferguson Valley, there has been a beloved peppermint tree for eight centuries.
Former Greens leader Bob Brown said, “To think that it could have been destroyed in a matter of minutes is… well, it’s gutting, it is hopeless.”
When a tour guide visited last week to exhibit it to foreign tourists, he discovered it had been destroyed.
“I was devastated and extremely embarrassed,” Peter Murphy said to 6PR Perth. “I’ve taken hundreds of people to see this tree, and I’m just gutted.”
The Noongar people revere the eucalypt known as the Bob Brown tree, so named for the former Greens leader who assisted the villagers in their 1999 battle to prevent logging.
“It’s nearly impossible to sit in front of something that’s 800 years old and understand or appreciate all the centuries that have passed by,” Brown stated.
“I’ve sat there with Noongar people over the years and, you know, listened to them speak to the tree,” Murphy continued.
The department in charge of biodiversity, conservation, and attractions has attributed the layoffs on a failure in communication.
A spokeswoman stated that the company had “contracted an arborist to remove fallen branches, and the instructions on the pruning works to be undertaken were clear” .
Brown compared the state of affairs to the devastation of the famous Robin Hood tree in Britain, which caused widespread shock earlier this year.
That incident resulted in charges against two persons, and the Ferguson Valley tree is far older.
Brown has demanded that someone answer for their actions.
“They arrest people for defending trees, it’s time people got arrested for destroying trees,” Brown stated.
