‘Greeted by concrete’: Town fights for trees as rail project steamrolls historic avenue

Residents of Euroa think of leafy Anderson Street as the grand entrance to their charming heritage town.

Towering plane trees line the street with broad leaves and great outstretched limbs that throw generous shadows over the footpaths, offering respite from the afternoon heat.

Toni and Nick Sayers on the tree-lined street outside their Euroa home. Credit: Justin McManus

For Nick and Toni Sayers, who moved their young family from Melbourne to Euroa in northern Victoria four years ago, the trees were part of the town’s allure.

“It caught our attention straight away,” Nick Sayers said.

But this verdant entry to Euroa will soon be cleared to make way for road upgrades as part of a new underpass for the Inland Rail project. Inland Rail is a freight project that will connect Melbourne and Brisbane, running through regional Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

Residents who are fighting the plan to cut the trees, which are at least decades and possibly more than a century old, estimate at least a dozen will be lost.

A bird’s-eye view of Anderson Street, Euroa. Credit: Justin McManus

Sayers said he was most disappointed there was no plan to replace any of the trees on his street, even though there was enough space to accommodate replanted vegetation.

He said rather than a tree-lined entrance, visitors would soon be met with “kerb-to-kerb concrete” as they approached the town.

“They’re going to be greeted with just medians and concrete and pavement,” he said.

In 2021, Euroa residents successfully lobbied the Australian Rail Track Corporation to build a road underpass to replace the existing bridge. But Nick Sayers said the corporation did not provide any indication at the time that it planned to remove trees from Anderson Street to accommodate the underpass.

The 1600-kilometre Inland Rail initiative is designed to increase freight rail capacity, cut travel time and ease pressure on the road networks.

Inland Rail, which is a subsidiary of the Australian Rail Track Corporation, is delivering the project on behalf of the Australian government. Infrastructure construction company John Holland has been contracted to construct a section of the project at regional Victorian towns, including Euroa, Benalla, Wandong, Tallarook, Seymour and Broadford.

Euroa resident and tree activist Libby Woodhouse said the town’s forebears had shown great vision by planting trees they knew they would probably never reach maturity.

“They were forward planning a long time ago. It’s a lovely entrance into Euroa when you come down through that avenue of trees,” Woodhouse said. “They are pretty special.”

Libby Woodhouse with one of the trees her community fought to save.Credit: Justin McManus

Woodhouse has been part of previous campaigns that saved trees from the chainsaw, including a Moreton Bay fig near the town centre.

Inland Rail project director Scott Anderson said it was necessary to remove the trees along Anderson Street to allow for upgrades to the underpass, including the extension of service roads.

He said the rail station area was being modified and the Anderson Street bridge replaced with an underpass, which was the community’s preference, to allow for double-stacked trains. The station would have a landscaped forecourt, new platform and better pedestrian connectivity, he said.

“Inland Rail makes every effort to minimise the impact to vegetation, although due to the spatial requirements of the road underpass, some tree removal in Anderson Street will be unavoidable,” Anderson said.

An artist’s impression of Anderson Street after the planned tree removal.

He said vegetation removed for the project was done with environmental and planning approvals, and the number of trees cut from Anderson Street would be replaced within the Euroa station precinct and green space nearby.

University of Melbourne urban tree ecologist Greg Moore said communities across Victoria began planting trees in substantial numbers in the 1800s after much of the state was cleared of native vegetation.

“They recognised early there was significant loss of trees in local landscapes,” he said.

Moore said Victorians had planted trees to help protect towns from wind and suppress dust, particularly in summer. But they also wanted to make an aesthetic statement with tree-lined roads that ran into population centres.

An artist’s impression of the Inland Rail project in Eurora.

“Often the trees that were planted made a statement about the town,” Moore said. “A town that was proud of its structure and traditions usually had a pretty good entrance.”

Moore said plane trees were a hardy and long-living species, which provided shade and cooler temperatures.

Plane trees have also proven controversial, particularly in Melbourne because they release pollen and tiny fibres that many people find irritate their eyes, nose and throat.

But Moore said they provided many benefits, including shade, which helped cool communities in summer.

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