This is my story and photographs of the battle by Freshwater and Cairns residents to stop the destruction of a majestic much loved 80 year old raintree with a forty metre canopy.
I’ve covered major disasters, conflict and other disturbing and sometimes horrific stories around the planet … but never one as close to home (literally) and personal. The tree in question is/was situated just fifty metres from my driveway in the leafy ‘green’ suburb of Freshwater, adjacent to the local primary school.
‘Our Tree’ was arguably the largest tree in the Cairns vicinity … at least 80 years old and a large part of the fabric of the community, population around 2500. I’ve walked or driven past this amazing tree almost every day for near thirty years. … have watched the school children (including mine) walk to and from school in its shade for decades … and watched the kookaburras, scrub turkeys, cockatoos both black and white and other wild life … play and/or perch in it.
All was right with the World …
It was about eight months ago that the word on the ‘Freshie’ streets was that there was an application to demolish our beloved tree. The block … then containing an old shabby bessa block residence with asbestos content … was sold to a developer/doctor. He then applied for planning permission to build two investment ‘duplex’ buildings on the block which included the destruction of the community tree. (Surveys indicated that more than fifty percent of the trees footprint lay on public/council land.)
However, the planning department ticked off on the development which apparently then bi-passed Cairns councillors.
This spawned the formation of the Freshwater Raintree Action Group (FRAG) … a coalition of like minded intelligent driven individuals intent on saving this remarkable specimen.
For a while I was content that the situation was in very capable hands, that common sense would prevail and FRAG would obviously win over the council and the plan would be reversed/scrapped. (As a media member I felt it not good form to get involved in issues that may be of a ‘political’ nature … )
I also couldn’t believe that the developer (whose name I do know but won’t mention here) would actually continue to push his plan through knowing the massive backlash and disgust from so many of the population of Freshwater and the wider Cairns area.
The whole thing came to a head just a couple of weeks ago. Word arrived that demolition was imminent and tree loppers contracted. FRAG had already instigated a court hearing that questioned the Councils planning procedures and that matter was scheduled for the following Friday … too late for the tree. With the help of a pro-bono lawyer FRAG went to court and won an injunction to stop the destruction for 48 hours. However, a second injection failed and FRAG … facing legal costs that may have run into ‘millions’ were forced to cancel further proceedings.
On the first day of June AA Taylors Treelopping from Atherton descended on Freshwater to carry out the execution. FRAG members, local residents and many others from around Cairns … arrived to voice their protest. Many were visibly hurting and many were very angry. The police physically hauled away half a dozen protestors from the tree with one arrested.
However, arguably the most distressing and emotional response came from the Freshwater Primary School children directly across from the tree. Before school, at morning break and at lunch, scores of children lined the school playground fence shouting “Save Our Tree, Save Our Tree” and attempting to pass notes to the loppers to stop killing their tree which has provided them with shade as they walked to and from school. A teacher I spoke to told me that the students were intent on having their voices heard. Many were very distressed. Disgustingly, some loppers laughed at the situation. (My top image below shows the children voicing their opinion at the fence without revealing identities.)
For four days straight I had to listen to the chainsaws from home as they ripped into the tree … the outer branches, the larger limbs and finally the massive trunk. Spent much of my time repeatably taking the short walk down to the tree with cameras in hand to document the trees ‘finality’ . Can honestly say I was distressed … and bloody angry. A constant stream of people from around the city came to pay their last respects.
Sadly it seems, despite my best efforts (and eventual surprise), that this story and its images were not snapped up by the wider Australian media. I was told several times that it was a ‘local issue’ … despite ‘tree removal’ being a nation wide current topic, notably in southern Queensland and in South Australia. I did manage to get some traction with my pics featuring in news and opinion outlets ‘InDaily’ and ‘The Point’ and they may be found here, here … and here …
There is much, much more to this story … it’s ramifications and the inevitable range of opinion … but this is my tale that I feel the need to tell. If you got this far ‘Thanks’ for reading and I hope the images resonate.
Images © Brian Cassey
