Anger in WA after 800-year-old ‘Bob Brown’ eucalypt tree cut down

Shock and anger is rising after an 800-year-old natural wonder was cut down to a stump.

Shock and anger is rippling across Western Australia following the destruction of an 800-year-old natural wonder.

Local tour guide Peter Murphy said he was leading some French tourists to visit a centuries-old eucalypt tree in the Ferguson Valley, about two hours south of Perth, when he discovered the tree had been cut down to a stump.

“I took them down there to see the tree, unaware that it was gone,” he told 6PR Perth’s Gary Adshead on Friday.

“I was devastated. I’m just gutted.”

The tree, nicknamed the “Bob Brown” tree for the environmentalist and former Greens Senator, is believed to have stood since the 12th century.

Calling into 6PR, Mr Brown said he was “appalled” at the loss.

“I’ve seen this repeatedly where trees have been destroyed, sometimes to get back at environmentalists, but often for no good reason,” he said.

The Bob Brown tree after it was cut down. Picture: Peter Murphy

“Why on earth they wanted to trim a natural tree when putting a fence around it to keep visitors at bay (from) falling branches, is beyond me.

“That’s what you do with other trees, that’s what you do with ancient ruins, that what they’ve done at Stonehenge.”

The WA government’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has acknowledged it hired a contractor to trim the Wellington National Park tree to keep falling branches away from visitors, but it did not intend for the tree to be felled.

“DBCA contracted an arborist to remove the fallen branches and address the risk,” the department has said in a statement.

“DBCA met the contractor on site prior to any work commencing to identify the scope of what was required.

“DBCA has liaised with the contractor and there has been an obvious breakdown in communication on the contractor’s behalf, as the instructions on the pruning works to be undertaken was clear.”

The tree was a popular tourist attraction. Picture: Peter Murphy/ Bob Brown Foundation

Mr Brown suggested those responsible should face legal proceedings.

“I think it’s a criminal piece of behaviour,” he said.

“This tree was there in the 12th century, if the ageing of it is correct. It has great significance for the Noongar people.

“It was a great source of inspiration and wonder, potentially for a century or two more to come. But that wasn’t taken into account.”

Mr Brown said he had written to WA Premier Roger Cook about the incident.

“The locals are devastated,” Mr Brown said.