By Casey Neill
River red gums that graced Noble Park’s Mons Parade for decades are no more, but their age is still in question.
Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) removed the 66 trees and 28 others on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 August to make way for the sky rail.
The Journal reported last week that the gums could be 200 years old but Noble Park historian Geoff Wachter researched historical photographs and said they were 90 years old or less.
“All suitable trees in the town area had been harvested in the 1880s and all of the trees, bar the two trees in Douglas Street, are regrowth,” he said.
“A red gum seedling in Stuart Street reached the size of the removed trees in less than 60 years.
“It seems folk law is not the same as fact.”
Mr Wachter said the trees, if allowed, would regrow.
“Many of the removed red gums were suffering from heavy infestations of mistletoe,” he said.
“But I don’t see why they all had to go.
“A lot of them were almost on the footpath line.”
Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) said river red gums were not suitable for transplanting and it would plant new trees.
Councillor Peter Brown said what had occurred was not consistent with what the LXRA had advised just a few weeks ago “in terms of either procedure or consideration of the vegetation”.
“We understood that there would be an effort to identify and, if possible, save some of the more substantial trees,” he said.
“This has not been done.
“I often stood at Noble Park RSL watching a flag being raised against a backdrop of beautiful River Red Gums. That beauty will, sadly, be only a memory.”
