Tourists leaf with history

LEAVES from the Tree of Knowledge, regarded as the site of the beginning of the labour movement in Australia, are being sold as bookmarks to tourists.

Better days ... Pat Ogden, ALP branch president and local shire councillor in Barcadine, Queensland with the historic Tree of Knowledge before it was poisoned

LEAVES from the Tree of Knowledge, regarded as the site of the beginning of the labour movement in Australia, are being sold as bookmarks to tourists.

Pat Ogden, ALP branch president and local shire councillor in Barcadine in Queensland's central west, said the laminated leaves were extremely popular.

The 200-year-old ghost gum died after after it was deliberately poisoned by a pesticide last year.

It became part of Australian history as a symbol of the labour movement and the formation of the Australian Labor Party.

Mr Ogden said it was a shame more leaves had not been collected when "they were dropping off in the hundreds" as it died.

Seedlings from the tree were also being grown for public sale, he said.

The tree's folklore dates back to 1891 when a group of shearers gathered beneath its branches and agreed to strike against their employers.

The shearers' strike, in conjunction with the maritime strike of 1890, played a crucial role in the historical connection between unions and what eventually became the ALP.