What happened in Estimates on Wednesday

A surviving copy of the Australian Labor Party’s official tree mascot has been brought back from the brink after botany boffins swung into action. 

A surviving copy of the Australian Labor Party’s official tree mascot has been brought back from the brink after botany boffins swung into action.

The Tree of Knowledge, a ghost gum, was originally located in Barcaldine and is known as the birth place of the Australian labour movement.

The tree fell victim to an abhorrent poison attack in 2006 and died.But boffins had already collected clones from the original tree and had begun propagating copies.One was planted at an Eco-Sciences precinct in Brisbane and another at the National Arboretum—a large spacious zoo for trees—in Canberra.

In February 2023 Forestry and Biosciences Director Dr Tim Smith diagnosed the Tree of Knowledge clone at Eco-Sciences with a copper deficiency.

Dr Smith gave the tree some copper and a nourishing mix of 15 other essential nutrients to get it back into good health in a treatment regime which lasted eight weeks.

“The Tree of Knowledge is a Queensland and Australian icon and it warms my heart to see the brilliant work of our scientists in keeping its legacy alive,” Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said.

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