HISTORIC RECORDS

The best known and most famous example is the "Ferguson Tree" which was actually a fallen Mountain Ash downed by a recent bush fire. This was measured by a government surveyor, William Ferguson by tape measure on the 21st February 1872. The length was a staggering (if true) 133 metres (436 feet) with its crown (the tree's top) broken off!! The stump's diameter five feet off the ground was 5.5m (18 feet) and at its broken top its diameter was still 1 metre. It is estimated that had this tree actually still been intact it would have approached 152m (500 feet) in height. The surveyor also noted numerous fallen trees in the same area over 106m (350feet) in height.

Big deal you may say - 150m isn't very high. Modern athletic sprinters can cover 100m in less than 10 seconds. However, to put this into perspective here are some relative  heights to make it easier to visualise;

The Sydney Opera House is 67m (220 feet) high  above sea level.

The Statue of Liberty is 93m tall.

The Eiffel Tower is 300m high (984 feet). [150m (492 feet) to 2nd platform].

Now do you think these trees are really tall?

Other notable tall trees found in Victoria Australia which were much higher than the California Redwoods are as follows;

• A Mountain Ash at Mt Baw Baw measured by a surveyor GW Robinson circa 1889 to be 143m (470 feet).
• A Menzies Creek Mountain Ash measured after felling at 122m (400 feet) in 1888. Its huge trunk was cut up and transported and reassembled  to put on display at the centennial exhibition in Melbourne.
•  Another fallen giant in the Dandenong Ranges measured by surveyor David Boyle as 119m (390 feet). This tree had a broken crown and Boyle estimated that the top would've added another 9m making the actual height 128m (420 feet).
• The Thorpdale tree in South Gippsland. (click here for a more detailed account) This was measured twice by a surveyor, once when it was standing by a theodolite (a surveying instrument) and again when it was cut down - in 1880. Its cut down height was 114.4m (375.3 feet). This tree was actually listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest tree in the world as there was actual documents available to verify this. Today a plaque denotes it resting place and the site can still be visited - although with nothing present there isn't much point except to remember man's folly.
  

A new tallest tree has been found recently in North America and is a California Redwood and appears to be 115m (377 feet) - subject to confirmation so we may have a new record holder! Its location is kept a secret to prevent damage to this spectacular specimen.

SO WHERE ARE THE BIG TREES NOW?

Sadly by comparison, the tallest tree known in Victoria today is an unnamed Eucalypt in the Wallaby Creek catchment which is 91.6m (300 feet) high and is healthy and approximately 300 years old. It is well protected by other trees, but it is unknown how high it will grow, as most of these trees growth occurs in the first 100 years. The tallest tree in Tasmania is approximately 99m.

There is some controversy over the above listed amazing historical heights and whether they were really true, as current day examples while still being very tall, are still a good 10 to 20 metres shorter than the above listed heights.

The answer may lie on how and where these trees grow, historic events and the time it takes for these heights to be attained.

First of all it takes 200-400 years for these to grow to these heights. They also need huge amounts of rainfall/ specific altitude requirements and many nutrients. In that time the trees have to survive bush fires, parasites and forest mammals, storms & strong winds, lightning strikes and the greatest threat of all - intervention by man. You'll agree, the odds are stacked against the trees.

However, when white settlers came to Victoria (Australia) more than 200 years ago, countless thousands of these huge trees were present in the vast wild impenetrable and sometimes open forests. The settlers cleared huge tracts of these forests for farming and settlements, and the big trees were cut down without a second thought. Many were used for building timbers, palings and even used as firewood to fire boilers used in mining. They were so numerous and the wild forest had to give way for needed pasture and civilisation. As the old photos show, it was also somewhat of a trophy to fell a big tree. Unfortunately a static object didn't provide much sport.

The trees spectacular heights however led to a cash prize of 20 pounds being offered in 1888 for a tree longer than 122m (400 feet). Twenty pounds was a small fortune back then and unfortunately this led to a mad rush of axe wielding fortune seekers "hunting" down trees to obtain the cash prize.

It is very hard to gauge a tree's height in the forest. Some of these trees are almost invisible in dense forest until you stumble across them. It is nearly impossible to gauge  their height by visual means. A surveyor's theodolite can be used if a clear shot can be got from the ground to the trees top. In dense forest this is usually impossible. As you can see in many of the old photos below large amounts of scrub had to be hacked clear to get even a photo of the trunk!

A second method of actually climbing the tree and dropping a line/tape to the ground can be used. This however is obviously very dangerous and requires specialist gear and training.

In the wild outback of 1800 Victoria,  theodolites were only available to government surveyors and no-one was foolhardy enough to climb these big trees so the only way to measure them was to cut them down. Countless still growing smaller specimens were cut to see how high they were. Numerous trees were wasted. In fact many timber selectors lamented the fact that much valuable timber was simply burnt for the sake of "improving" the country side.

Remote forest was searched for these big trees and they were felled indiscriminately in areas never to be earmarked for pasture only to be left to rot as they did not reach the magic 400 foot mark.

Now with most of Victoria's old growth forest gone (compared with what was present when white settlers first arrived), statitiscally speaking there is only a smaller pool of forest available for the growth of these giant trees. It may also be that the seed stock of the biggest growing varieties of  Mountain Ash are lost forever. Huge areas of forest were cleared and the optimum growing areas and tallest varieties may have disappeared. Repeated bushfires can devastate large areas of Mountain Ash and push out the trees with different species. The Black Friday bushfires destroyed nearly a quarter of the state's forests with the loss of many lives.

It may also have been the early settlers were mistaken about the heights of these trees. With no special tools, much measuring would've have been done by "pacing it out", leading to wild variance in actual real measurement.

I find it hard to dispute however the height of the tallest trees listed above. Four of the five tallest above were measured by government surveyors who had access to accurate measuring tapes, chains and theodolites. These were very responsible men who had to set out properties and roads to the nearest inch. Many of the original title plans created by these pioneer surveyors are still used today and are very accurate. It is interesting that Ferguson measured the tree after it had been downed by a bushfire. It possible he may have measured the length of parts of several trees he assumed were joined together. Unfortunately, we'll never know. If one assumes that Ferguson got it wrong, the records of the other surveyors and much anecdotal evidence and photos suggests that while one may have gotten it wrong, trees in the height range of 100-120 metres must have been present in especially favourable areas. It is the same with the Californian Redwoods and Sequoia trees. Not every tree is 115m tall and there are only a few spectacular specimens which grow in especially favourable areas. We can say with certainty that the Mountain Ash is the tallest hardwood in the world!

 
WILL THE MOUNTAIN ASH BE THE TALLEST TREE AGAIN?

Well, that's up to you.

Only if significant areas of forest are protected from logging over a very long time (at least 200 years) can these giants have any chance of gracing our landscape again. Unfortunately this is too long a time for most people. Many of the few remaining big examples are in logging areas and while some of these are currently protected, the area around them is still being logged or cleared. This leaves these examples exposed and  vulnerable to strong winds or lightning strikes. Mountain Ash also needs competition from its tall neighbours to achieve these great heights. If the areas are re-logged at small time intervals ie less than 200 years (80 years is the current practice) then they will never again reach these super tall heights. Fifty or sixty metres may be all they can get too! The settlers also claimed a lot of the most fertile areas for farming and other purposes. These areas combined with faourable conditions may have had the extra nutrients to push some of the trees to get that extra bit taller.

Since Australia has been settled less than 300 years and the lifespan of a Mountain Ash is at least 400 years no-one can speak with complete authority on them. They have only really been studied with any detail in the last 100 years. One must ask what happened before the arrival of the settlers when the forests were at their full glory. We know indigenous people occasionally hunted in the wet forests and collected plants for food and used small amounts of timber for tools etc as evident from scar trees. They also occasionally lighted the forest to flush out game and briefly clear some favourable areas.

The issue is really quite complex and is a festering sore between timber companies and environmental groups.

Tasmanian current forestry practice dictates that trees over 80m in height or a certain cubic volume are protected as well. However when the big trees finally die as they will, no newer trees will ever attain the great heights if this policy is adhered to as they will be reaped well before they reach maturity or great height. The big trees in these areas are still doomed unless more areas are set aside for preservation and are not touched for long periods. There appears to be no formal big tree policy in Victoria. Luckily the Ash forests do bounce in general quickly from clear felling and burning, but sometimes the uniform mix of new trees only can unwittingly be the doom for bird or marsupial life that needs hollows from older long dead trees for their survival. One must ask what happened before the arrival of the settlers when the forests were at their full glory.

Clear felling can also reduce the water out put from a forest by up to 50% and cause erosion if not managed properly.

While a lot of forestry timber is used for worthwhile purposes like furniture or building materials, there is much waste in the industry with large amounts of timber wood chipped to be used for paper products. Many of these large trees are full of borer or other parasites and are worthless junk timber but this is not ascertained  until they are cut down. Even on a good tree only about 40% of the wood can be used for quality timber and the rest is chipped or used as mulch. It is unfortunate  that loggers are making the most money from the wood chips. The focus has somehow shifted from woodchips being a useful by product of the timber production process to the main focus of logging. It is a shame that much good timber is left to rot/burn on the ground as well. This should not be the case and we need to value add to our forest products rather than selling the raw product over-seas and importing the finished product at a much higher price.

In Victoria, clear felling in old growth forest is being phased out as everyone realises it is unsustainable. With only a very small area of old growth area left, the financial impact should be minimal. However, in Tasmania the clear felling continues as there are much larger areas available. Most of this timber is being used for woodchips. Unfortunately a lot of the native forest is being replaced with introduced plantations which is even worse and untold damage is being done. More wood chips come from the tiny island state of Tasmania then the rest of the Australia combined. It is somewhat at odds with the image it is trying to promote of being a forest tourist destination.

On the other hand there is a lot of employment generated in these local areas from the forest industry where unemployment is usually high . In some cases if the forestry industry is banned from these areas then many towns may simply die.  No real attempt has been made to intergrating the eco tourism possibilities and benefits that these big trees would make to the local community. Thousands of people flock to see the Californina Redwoods every year and I can't see why a similar scenario, even on a smaller scale couldn't work here. The benefits to local economies seem endless. It just seems no one has heard of these trees and politicians want to sacrifice long term benefits for short term monetary gain. No real attempt has also been made either to retrain or re-allocate workers affected by phasing out of clear fell logging in certain areas and using selective logging. It seems Australians are being short changed by our government on both sides of the fence.

Many proponents favour plantation timbers, and much timber and paper currently used is sourced from this. It has been calculated that nearly all our wood/paper needs could be satisfied by recycling and plantation timbers. However this can lead to only monoculture forests which are considered not very ecologically sound. It is even worse when exisitng Old Growth or native forest is replaced with say - plantation pine. It is actually much better to clear fell / selectively log from native forests than destroy native forests totally and then replace them with plantations. This maintains the bio-diversity of the forests rather than having sterile monculture plantations.

There is no one easy answer as each area has its own peculiar conditions. It is hard to say but selective logging seems to be the best alternative in some forests, and it promises to be even more labour intensive (hence more jobs!), but it is more dangerous. In some other areas careful  clearfelling at differing rotations may be better. It is also true that while Eucalypt forests bounce back quickly after clearfelling - the result can be a very uniform, less diverse tree mix and can effectively snuff out species that take more than 100 years to establish themselves. I'm sure that the safety factors could be addressed and even if the price of timber is pushed up, surely this is a small price to pay for these magnificent trees. It could be a win/win situation for everyone. The forests are kept in good nick and there is a sustainable timber industry with jobs in rural areas. If value adding to the timber could be done in Australia rather than exporting the raw timber at marginal rates this would be preferable as well. More financial gain is obtained requring less raw material output. A recent example was when a single tree which  in its raw state shipped over seas was worth only $100.00. However when that single tree was actually processed and turned into products here its worth was nearly $3000!

It is still prerable to use our own forests in a sustainable way rather than importing over-seas sourced timbers that have been cut from forests without any controls at all.

For a toatally independent view, the Uniting Church did a study on the impacts and pros and cons for logging and conservation. It's a hefty document but it is a very interesting and worthwhile read which presents all the arguments in a very clear way. It is unfortunate that an independent body had to be the umpire in this very contentious debate. You can download a pdf copy here. (download 1.3mb)

Being realistic, the environment is the economy. Everything has to come from somewhere. From the milk you pour over your cereal to the computer screen you are reading this on, it's all part of the world's resources and they are not inexhaustible. There has to be a sustainable middle ground. I don't think anyone can really rationally justify cutting down a 100m high, three hundred year old tree which filters our air/water for toilet paper when thousands of cubic metres of perfectly good office paper is thrown out each week.

There will always be a need for timber products.We have to get a lot smarter with how we use our natural resources. I believe we can have good forests and jobs. There is no one perfect solution. It may be we have to simply lock up certain areas, increase logging turn over times in other areas and re-use existing timbers more wisely. It also means trying to minimise waste and value adding to our forest products.

You won't find many photos of these trees on the internet and unfortunately not many people realise these trees exist - I didn't until recently and while I was amazed at their size and height, what even amazed me more was that some were being cut down!

YOU CANNOT TRULY APPRECIATE THE AWESOME  MIGHT OF THESE TREES, until you have seen one in real life. The photos below cannot accurately convey the size of these unique trees.

The answer is up to you. Whether its recycling paper, using sustainably grown timbers, recycled timbers, selective logging or other means. Write to your politicians for more areas set aside for these trees and some genuine protection. We have to take this issue seriously. If you want to see the big trees again - you must act now, otherwise they will only left in old photos!

Remember - once its gone, we'll need at least two hundred years to get it back!

I'll leave it up to your good judgment!
 
For some even bigger photos of Mountain Ash trees in the Otways - click here

Now, the photos.......

	A magnificent Mountain Ash on the Monda Track near Heallesville (1 hours drive from Melbourne). Photo taken in the 1930's. This was still around with a reduced height until the late 90's. It collapsed around 1998. You can still see its trunk.
	One of the largest known stumps in Australia on photographic record - the famed Bulga Stump. 11.3m diameter (34m circumference at breast height). The caption states "will hold eleven horses inside". Height was unknown as when discovered it was a broken stag (top broken off) in the 19th century. Its stump was burned up in 1939 bush fires. Its diameter rivals the famous General Sherman Sequoia (Sequoiadendron gigantea) (pictured top) still growing in Northern America. Based on this stump's size, it could've easily been 110m or more in height.
	This picture shows one the big Otway trees. Pictured is Mr John Gardiner (founder of Beech Forest). This was a five horse stable. The early settlers used many of the great trees for makeshift homes, stables, schools and even bush churches! See my photo section dedicated to the Otways trees.
	An extremely brave tree lopper scales a 70m monster to take the top out to reclaim timber destroyed by recent bush fires. Yes - that speck at the top is a person!
	Sadly - Tasmanian monster "El Grande" after being recently accidentally destroyed by an out of control burnoff by Forests Tasmania. Note how the surrounding forest was cleared around tree leaving it exposed to high winds, lightning strikes, erosion etc. Even without the fire, its life was shortened. This is definitely not how to look after these trees!
	The area around El Grande after the "controlled burn". What a mess, but the area will grow back again eventually if properly regenerated. I have visited some clear felled coupes in Victoria over the course of many years which were to be regenerated. After several years, unfortuantely some still look like this - plus extensive erosion. Unfortunately there seems to be a gap between what is said is being done and what is reality in some areas. However in other areas the regrowth has been excellent - it all takes time & good management. The only thing about the regeneration of clearfell is that all the trees are of the same age which means dead trees with hollows for nesting birds & some marsupials are non existent. More than 200 years are needed for these hollows to form which never get a chance on current 80 year logging rotation cycles.
	Another tree named "Gandalf's staff" spared for the moment - but how long will it really last? This tree is taller than El Grande, but with a smaller diameter trunk. I cannot believe this tree will last that long. With all its supporting vegegtation around it removed and its surrounding area traversed by heavy equipment, it is again exposed. There is no real use in sparing single trees like this. A pocket of forest should have been left which contained the tree if it was to be spared. Note the people on the large stump next to the tree.
	More happily, a recently discovered giant tree found within 200m of logging near Toolangi in Victoria.
	Another Tasmanian giant (approx 17.2m circumference) - this time very much alive!
	Too big for the axe! Many of these trees were just too to be cut down. The easier method of destruction by early settlers was to ring bark the trees. Rotting hulks dotted the landscape for decades once the forest was cleared.
	A tombstone of the once impenetrable forest. A Mountain Ash stump near a road in Balnook, Gippsland. Note the notches cut in the trunk for standing planks to cut the tree down by axe!
	Another attempt to show the big trees size. A 1960's photo a logging operation in Gippsland. Note in the background the burnt out hulks of huge trees which tower over eucalypt saplings in the background. This shows that these trees were relativeky common in the "big tree" zones in Gippsland. It is almost unbelievable to think there are now virtually none left.
	The one that got away! Yes they're still out there. Another alive huge Regnans in Tasmania. This is in the hotly contested Styx Valley in Tasmania. It looks like this area will be protected now only after much public outcry. Note the person standing underneath the tree fern to indicate its size. Based on this person being only 1.6m tall, this tree is at least 8m in diameter at shoulder height. The actual tree is about 90m tall.
	Up, up and away! A 92m Mountain Ash in Victoria, Australia confirmed and measured recently. Currently the confirmed tallest in Victoria. The confirmed tallest in Tasmania is 98m. Unfortunately most of the Tasmanian trees while tall & big are on the way out and are decreasing in height due to old age. Nature's skyscapers!
	On the way out......the huge "ADA" tree in Victoria, still alive but at the end of its reign. Estimated to be about 400 years old it is now a broken stag and only 78m tall, and circumference of 15.7m (approx 8m diameter) at 1.5m height. Department of Natural Resources and Environment officers estimate the tree was about 120m tall when in its prime based on the diameter of the broken off section. Its volume is estimated to be 830 cum..
	Looking up at the ADA tree from ground zero. Getting to this tree you pass many stumps and fallen rotten logs of similar or even larger diameters. These were cut down by early loggers only to find the wood mainly useless. Unbelievably until recently, a tree this size would've have been cut down in Tasmania as at 78m it is below the 80m height threshold specified by Forests Tasmania as wothwhile for saving. Now, due to public outcry, they have a cubic metre volume threshold as well. It still is a ridiculous policy, as these large areas need to be set aside for preservation to allow younger trees to get to this size before being logged. Only intervention by the public when they have accidentally stumbled across them has saved these trees.

References: Department of Natural Resources Victoria.
                   Wild magazine spring 2002.
                   Tasmanian Forests web site.
                   Guinness Book of Records" (London 1977, p 3)
                   World Eucalypt Breeding Web Site.
                   Wilderness Society Web site.
                   "The Age" newspaper.
                   "The Bulletin" magazine.
                     Parks Victoria.

ACF

Last update 10th October 2006

Got any big/tall tree photos of Australian trees? I am very intrested in any photos (current or historical) to add to my collection/research.

If you are willing to have them featured on this web page please email photos to "bigtreesaustralia at optusnet.com.au". Please note that this email address has been typed to avoid spammers. Full credit/details will be listed to the photo owner


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