Reply From Dave.

Dave Reid said...



G'day Le Loup,


I enjoyed the post and the walk through your 'neck of the woods', the pictures were great. I would stamp both those trees as 'Aboriginal scarred Trees'. The first scar appears to be very old. Different species of eucalyptus display different edges when they heal. I would like to know the species.
Unless the scar was from a large branch, I would say that the scar probably caused the tree's death.
Not right away, but slowly. I say this because the interior is hollow (insects, decay whatever) and the obvious entry to do this was via the exposed sapwood revealed by the removal of the bark.


The burnt stump has the signs of a scar at the base of the tree where the tree has tried to 'heal' itself. With a little (probably a fair bit) of imagination you can imagine the pointed oblong shape of a native shield. Well I can anyway.
I reckon people should realise that in a survival situation bark can (and has been for thousands of years)useful as a robust shelter. The first settlers of Australia stripped (ringbarked and later destroyed) thousands of trees for use in bark huts until they could get themselves organised with slab huts.
Sorry to ramble, I am learning a lot from your site, Cheers, Canberra Dave

Dave. Most of the timber in the higher parts is stringybark, with some yellow box.