Monkey Ear Pod tree causes South African woman’s death at Darwin Botanic Gardens

The NT Parks Department has identified the tree which has killed a South African woman in Australia in a freak incident which has ‘rocked the community deeply’.

The George Brown Botanic Gardens remained closed on Monday morning after the death of a 28-year-old woman from South Africa. Picture: Zayda Dollie

Territory leaders say the death of a woman from a fallen tree branch in Darwin has “rocked the community” as more details emerge on the freak incident.

The 28-year-old woman was killed when a large tree branch fell in the George Brown Botanic Gardens early Sunday afternoon.

A 33-year-old man was taken to hospital with serious injuries but was in a stable condition later that evening.

Acting Commander Peter Kennon said on Monday morning the married South African couple had been in Darwin “a short time” and had come to the Top End for work.

NT Police are investigating the death of a woman after a large branch fell in the Darwin Botanic Gardens. Picture: Zayda Dollie

“My understanding is that they were walking past the tree at the time,” he said.

“There’s certainly some people nearby at the time who did witness the incident and rendered assistance immediately.

“It was a confronting scene but everyone nearby rendered assistance.”

Mr Kennon said the South African consulate had been advised and the man had spoken to his family.

NT Police initially reported the tree was the notorious mahogany species, however a NT Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman later said that information was incorrect.

A Parks spokeswoman confirmed the tree involved in the incident was an enterolobium cyclocarpum — commonly known as a Monkey Ear Pod tree — a fast-growing, deciduous tree native to Central America. Picture: Google Maps

A Parks spokeswoman confirmed the tree involved in the incident was an enterolobium cyclocarpum — commonly known as a Monkey Ear Pod tree — a fast-growing, deciduous tree native to Central America.

“There are no African Mahoganies at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens,” she said.

She said regular tree audits were held across all Territory parks and reserves, with the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens last assessed by a qualified arborist around 10 months ago, in December 2022.

“The inspection did not identify this tree as high risk,” she said.

“Other high risk trees were removed after this inspection.”

However the Parks spokeswoman said the arborist did recommend nine-month inspection cycles with the last remedial tree` pruning and high-risk tree removals held in July.

Enterolobium cyclocarpum, commonly known as a devil's ear tree or monkey-ear tree is a large fast-growing, deciduous trees native to Central America.

She said the Department would contact an external arborist to prepare a report on the Monkey Ear Pod trees to assess any additional safety concerns.

In the wake of the shocking tragedy, the Parks spokeswoman said the Department’s “thoughts are with the family and friends of the couple involved”.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the death was an “absolute tragedy”.

“My heart goes out to her family, her friends, to those that witnessed and responded to that accident,” she said.

“Just a tragedy. It has rocked our community deeply and our thoughts are with everyone involved.”

A spokeswoman for NT Parks and Wildlife, which is responsible for the management of the Botanic Gardens, said it could not comment as the incident was being investigated by police.

Darwin mayor Kon Vatskalis said while it was not within the council’s remit, he urged everyone to “be vigilant” of the dangers of trees.

“I feel for the family,” he said.

City of Darwin mayor Kon Vatskalis described the death as “tragic”. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“You know, going out with a friend to have a good time to a nice place like the Botanic Gardens … it’s really, really sad.

“Unfortunately with trees you have to be on your toes all the time because when something goes wrong, it can go drastically wrong.

“For a branch to fall like that, it means that something was wrong with the tree – sometimes they rot inside and you can’t see it.

“We need to go and inspect all the trees and make sure they’re safe and have qualified arborists to make sure this doesn’t happen.

“It’s tragic, tragic, tragic and it’s happened to us before when somebody was killed on the golf course.”

African mahogany tree in Darwin.

In 2014 a man died after the branch of an African mahogany tree in Gardens Park Golf Links fell and struck him.

The incident led to the immediate removal of the tree and an inquest into his death.

Seven years later a two-tonne branch from another mahogany tree fell onto a vehicle in the Darwin CBD.

The George Brown Botanic Gardens, including the visitor information centre and Eva’s Cafe, will remain closed until further notice.