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A few big Australian treesIt's possible that the tallest trees that ever lived grew in Australia. Unfortunately historical records aren't very good and so the claim can't be confirmed, although Australia does still have the tallest hardwood trees in the world. |
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This gum tree (Eucalpytus regnans) is one of several delightful gum trees growing along the Tall Trees walk in Tasmania's Mount Field National Park |
The first time I visited Tasmania was in 1993. It was an amazing, beautiful place, with the most remarkable forests that seemed to grow everywhere. Some of those forests had the most bewildering giant trees on the planet. It was nature all over - trees, wildlife, scenery, more scenery, more wildlife - okay, I'm sure you get the idea. Thankfully you can still find some preserved patches of that magic, including some surviving giants if you know where to look. At the end of this page I link to a website that tells you about some of the biggest ones. It has some good photos too. |
A real giantOne tree I'd have loved to see alive was a very famous Eucalyptus regnans called El Grande but like with so many of the best trees I've left my run too late. It was a beautiful tall, healthy tree - the most massive in Tasmania - until it suddenly became the most massive Tasmanian dead tree in 2003. With a volume of 439 cubic metres it was one of the world's most special trees and made the one shown above look small. More information here and here. |
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A stand of Eucalyptus regnans in Tasmania. These trees show how some of today's giants might have looked a couple of hundred years ago |
According to the 1999 edition of the Guiness Book of Records the tallest tree ever measured was 132.6 metres (435 feet) and had once been more than 150 metres (500 feet). Perhaps it was one of the giant gum trees, the Eucalyptus regnans which hit that mark. Those trees, called Swamp Gums in Tasmania or Mountain Ash in mainland Australia, are famous for reaching incredible heights in high-rainfall areas with decent soils. You can still see some nice tall regnans in Victoria and Tasmania. Tasmania still has the biggest but Victoria has some really tall ones that just might be left alone long enough to take the record. |
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Shrinking nature: When my grandparents were kids, this was what they would have called a big tree. Now, most people wouldn't believe gum trees can reach this size. They'd say a big gum tree would be about 6 feet across its base. So our definition of a big gum tree has shrunk. This lovely old gum (shown at left) was at Dip Falls, near Mawbanna in northern Tasmania. It looked like it was slowly dying of old age when I saw it in 2000, but it still looked superb |
Mount Field National Park, TasmaniaSome of the trees here are amazing. Real teary-eyed stuff, in my opinion. It takes about half an hour to cover the length of the Tall Trees Walk. I find it even better to take in Russell Falls along the way. The trail takes you past plenty of lovely tall gum tree giants (Eucalyptus regnans). In fact, after seeing so many tall trees you start taking them for granted (until you get back home and realise you can't shake the memory of those trees out of your head). Another good trail at Mount Field National Park is the Lyrebird Trail. Not as many tall trees as the Tall Trees Walk, but in its own way perhaps even more beautiful. Last time I was on the Tall Trees Walk it was close to sunset and I saw almost 20 wallabies within half an hour. It was great to see that much wildlife and it reminded me of the idyllic place Tasmania was before the poison baits. |
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Multiple generations of trees growing along the Tall Trees Walk in Mount Field National Park,Tasmania. |
A beautiful big Eucalyptus regnans (Swamp Gum) growing alongside the Tall Trees Walk. On mainland Australia, Eucalyptus regnans is called a Mountain Ash |
Arve Big TreeFirst time I saw this giant was in 1993. As is so often the case, the photos don't do justice to the size of it. It had an impressive 17.2 metre (56.4 feet) girth and was 86 metres (282 feet) high. |
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You can see from the photo at right that the top of it had been exploded off in a lightning strike. The tallest trees in a forest are most at risk of being hit in a storm and I got used to seeing this kind of damage. When lightning strikes a tree it super-heats the moisture in the timber, causing it to instantly turn into steam and expand, and that makes the timber explode. Thankfully, trees like this one can often survive if most of the trunk is undamaged. |
Big Eucalyptus regnans, Tasmania
It might not have the widest base but this tree, a Eucaluptus regnans, was once listed in the Guiness Books of Records as the tallest hardwood in the world. In 1962 it was 99 metres tall (325 feet) and it kept growing until a lightning strike blew the top third off it. This tree stood alongside many other giants in the Styx Valley in Tasmania. |
Tall forestI took the photo shown at right in 1993. That's my rental car on the road there and it gives a good idea of the typical size of swamp gums alongside it. In order to make this logging road, a lot of other tall trees would have been chopped down. It's likely that this forest would have been cleared by now and replaced with plantations.
Pine plantationThe photo shown above, taken in 2000, shows a typical pine plantation. Unfortunately, by harvesting generations of trees from Australia's notoriously poor soils, those trees are not rotting back into the soil to provide nutrients. In other words, each successive generation of trees will be less vigorous. The difference 7 years makesMy first two visits to Tasmania were separated by 7 years and I was astonished at how much land had been cleared in that time. When I was there in 1993 I was told by a logging official that there would never again be clear-felling of timber in Tasmania, but on my following trip I saw signs of clear-felling in lots of places. Where they'd originally kept stands of trees alongside the roads so people in their cars wouldn't see the logging, those remnant stands had been chopped down too, revealing the full extent of clearing and also the extent of the planting of radiata pines. (Let's hope people don't get tired of pine furniture.) Tasmania sure seemed different. If you do still want to visit Tasmania, the national parks there do still have some lovely stands of trees that are wonderful to see, and at the bottom of this page I give a link to a list of giant remaining Tasmanian trees. Should logging be stopped?This is one of those subjects that causes a huge amount of strong feelings in lots of people. I don't use very much timber in my life. I have a timber bookcase in my room but that should last longer than me. I do use paper which comes from wood chips but I'd prefer to see that made from crops like hemp, which grows like a weed and also produces lovely paper. However there are lots of places where timber is used, like in home construction and lots of other areas. I do believe there is a valid need for logging and also conservation of spectacular trees and forests. Both can exist together. I've spoken with loggers and also conservationists and met some really great people on both sides of the debate. I know Australians are smart enough to create a sustainable solution to the challenges of logging and conservation, as long as more emphaisis is put on solutions and less emphasis on scoring political points. |
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New South WalesThe tallest tree that ever grew anywhere just possibly grew in New South Wales, although it's an awfully difficult thing to prove. We do know that all the really big ones are gone, but there are still some lovely trees growing. A real favourite of mine is a Eucaplyptus grandis.
This superb big tree, shown above and at right, was still healthy and growing when I last saw it in July 2007. Eucalyptus grandis is a spectactular tall-growing species of gum tree with rough dark bark around the base and smooth silvery light bark above. Apparently this one is approximately 400 years old and about 77 metres (250 feet) tall. Its lowest branch is 25 metres (82 feet) above the ground. The first few times I saw this tree it was possible to walk right up to it along a raised wooden platform, as in the photo above (taken in approximately 1990). However that platform has been removed and replaced with a new one which offers the view shown at right. It's growing near Bulahdelah in mid-northern NSW. The locals call it 'The Grandis' and claim it's the tallest tree in NSW. I now believe there is a taller gum tree living in NSW and an intriguing mix of pride, politics and secrecy seems to be keeping that one out of the public's eye. |
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I've taken a whole lot of photos of big trees. This page shows only a few of them. The next page shows a few examples of unusual and beautiful Australian trees. Where are the really big Tasmanian trees
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