The Story

When a tree falls there is a space that it leaves behind, There is a place where it wood have been, Anne Harris 2015

An Ancient tree fell across a road, it stopped traffic. The tree was cut into pieces and taken for wood chipping. A women saw the place where the tree had been and went to record the story, she followed the trunk to the rubbish dump, where it sat abandoned. The caretaker offered the tree to her, she hesitated, but to say no was admitting the tree was rubbish. Here was an opportunity to turn a tragedy into a new beginning.

And so the idea began to grow, the tree would be used as a teacher to share stories of culture, inspire creativity to build connection, and start a new story of optimism for the future.

The Facts about the original Tree

Species: Eucalyptus tereticornis – Forest Red Gum is a large Tree. This tree was reaching its maximum height of 50mts and was up to 1.8mts in diameter.

The Tree fell on the Noosa Eumundi Road in September 2015.

Situated in the district of Doonan, which is a semi rural area in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, in between the townships of Eumundi and Noosa in Queensland, Australia.

Alexander Pollock, Botanist Plant Identification and Advisory Services from the Brisbane Herbarium estimated the age of the tree between 250 – 1500yrs old.

This tree is on Kabi Kabi land, the tree is called djom’ba (red gum tree) and had bu’mi’mi (fallen/died). The Kabi Kabi people have inhabited and cared for this land for at least the last 60,000 years.

The wood from the original tree is being cared for at Sunspace Café, Noosa Eumundi Road, Doonan, and it will eventually be used by artists in the 2018 exhibition.

THE END

During 2015 – 2018 the tree went back into the community, sharing the knowledge and stories of people, place and our connection to the environment. There were creative collaborations, workshops, exhibitions and gatherings of people walking side by side, acknowledging each other’s histories and journeys.  

 The community aspects of this project have now come full circle if you would like to hear what happens to the seeds that have been planted and what comes after Tree Place please subscribe to the founder Anne Harris’s newsletter.

Tree Place acknowledges the country, culture and traditional custodians of the land upon which we walk, work and live.

This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia, the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) which is a partnership between the Queensland Government and the Sunshine Coast Council that supports local arts and culture in regional Queensland and the Cooroora Institute which supports Community and Creative practice to share the songs of the earth.