Hi all, below is an email I sent to about 30 CMT contacts this week and have had 3 replies. My job is to bring these trees to public attention. It is for academics & aboriginals to discover the ‘how’ & ‘why’, as I only do the ‘show’. I am trying to create 2 new archives – one for Trees in Trees & one for Ringtrees. Also the tedious job of plotting GPS data on google earth is made frustrating by the American differential. Sometimes the Latitude & Longitude figures are 20 ks out of wack? My tech skills are rudimentary and time limited so this hasn’t gone well. I have been measuring the “hosts” & their “guests” for a few dedicated academics mentioned below but my buggy (side by side) has broken down and Ive been grounded for a week. Things can only get better… Best wishes all XXXX
A short update from murrumanaarr (dragonfly) aka Moramana now known as Gingie Station. Some of you are academics, some in the media, some are simply tree lovers or farmers and some are Aboriginal. Some of you happen to be all of the above but what I think we have in common is a respect for our indigenous heritage. A small fraction of our pre-contact cultural past is preserved on the many culturally modified trees (CMTs) in the murrumaanaar landscape.
Having grown up in the Walgett district, part of a generational farming family, I have long been curious about scarred trees. Cuddie springs, where I first met Jude Field in 1994 unearthing megafauna & artefacts, is part of my mother’s property. I have lived at Gingie since 1987 when I married Charlie Pye & my interest in scarred trees only increased as there are so many here. Riding with kids & mustering the stock brings you up close to these magnificent trees. In 2016 during a local writing school, Steph Dale persuaded me to display my CMT photos on my own website and https://scartrees.com.au/ was born.
Photographing the trees and uploading them onto a web site is one thing. Knowing the original purpose behind bark or wood removal is another. I liken them to flesh wounds that scar over as quickly as possible to keep the bugs out. Some tree species like the Redgum are rapid healers whereas Ironwood & Supplejack don’t really ‘re –bark’ at all. The local Box trees ( Bimble & Black ) retain the original scar shape for a long time & sometimes they are seen with axe marks on the top & bottom of it. Another totally weird thing box trees do is play host to other native trees that are planted and nurtured inside them.
Exactly 3 years ago now I photographed the biggest of these Trees in Trees. The Blackbox host is 4.3 metres around and the Wilga guest has a circumference of 115 cm. After that I used to look out for them mustering as Wilgas have a habit of growing right beside other trees and its hard to see if they have separate trunks. Soon I noticed that not only were Wilgas growing inside boxtrees but Wild orange/bumble, Rosewood/boonery, the odd Quinine and a solitary Gumbie Gumbie (Pittosporum Angustifolium) were too.. Some of the “guests” had died & some of the “hosts” had been poisoned years ago. After some inquiries I was told seeds can drop or pass through birds into eucalypt hollows containing decayed organic matter and germinate there. Seemed a reasonable explanation at the time …
2016 was our only good year since 2012 and we were soon back in drought. If you have looked at the website archive ‘scars in country’ you can see the deterioration in ground cover. Temporary feedlots were established here as well as the leasing and agisting neighbouring land. I soon got acquainted with the neighbour’s paddocks & their CMTs too. Coolibahs and Leopardwoods are more inclined towards inosculation (merging) then boxtrees and I developed an obsession with Ringtrees. There are over 30 on this murrumanaarr land system that I know of – mostly associated with natural water catchments. Box trees were also made into Rings but Ive only ever seen 3. The one I found last week was smack in the middle of a group of 7 Trees in trees (TinTs) all growing within 300 metres of each other!
Now if you had any doubts about the anthropogenic (man-made) nature of these trees in trees I would like you to consider these facts. These 7 newly noticed TinTs & 1 boxtree ring form a corridor leading to a large billabong on the edge a red claypan between the sand hills. One of the TinTs is on the banks of the billabong and about 150 mts from the remnant Redgum wells. The old paleo river is close to the surface in places & the Kamilaroi clans put hollow logs down through the sand to access the water. The early Europeans placed their own wells next to these & shored up the sides with pine. This was the only permanent water away from the rivers & was used here for stock and domestic before the first artesian bore was drilled in 1894. (636 mts)
These 7 new TinTs added to the others Ive seen in the last few years make up about 20. A new “guest” tree found there is the Peach bush (Ehretia membranifolia) which is common in the old camps within the sand lenses. The size of the guests varies greatly with some seemingly too small to be over 150 years old. I suspect that may be the bonsai effect? White settlement began here in the 1840s so by my logic many cultural practises were ending after a generation or 2, say 1870. The gold rush of the 1850s saw most white employees head off to find their fortune. The squatters would then need more Aboriginal labour so reducing traditional activity further. (I’m a farmer remember not a historian so don’t shoot me if I have made wrong assumptions here)
Of the original TinTs, ALL are situated on the old river (paleo river/channel ) or the main road between Walgett & Cumborah, now known as Gingie Rd. This was the original path or songline frequented by travellers on their way to the Narran Lakes via Cumborah where there were permanent springs. Plotted on google earth these 2 lines of TinTs intersect around the homestead here built in 1905. I asked the LLS (local land services) for photos or GPS data of any eucalypts with native trees inside that they say exist, about 6 weeks ago now …
“Although not common Wilga, Rosewood, Wild orange do colonise older trees. The seeds of these trees are transported by birds and sometimes germinate in the decomposed leaf litter accumulated in the forks and hollows of trees. When conditions are right these can grow to mature trees.”
Unfortunately no pics of these “mature” trees have been forthcoming? Still I’m used to being fobbed off by institutions – even getting past the inquiry desk is a major achievement. Sadly this includes our Indigenous public servants as well at the highest level.
Still I live in hope and this rests with 3 local Kamilaroi/ Euahlayi individuals who help fill in the gaps. Allan Tighe, Rhonda Ashby & Jason Wilson have been out to see the TinTs and other CMTs and have abundant cultural knowledge. On the academic side we have Jude Field (Archaeology) who has secured the Dendrochronologist (tree aging) Jonathan Palmer among others to help. Paul Forster is another VIP both for his own knowledge & his contacts among arborists & botanists. He has introduced Jen Silcock a Qld botanist/ecologist who knows all there is to know about native trees in southern Qld & Nth West NSW esp. the Indig. ‘translocation’ of trees. They have done much work already into research funding submissions and general networking behind the scenes in this lockdown period.
From a farmers perspective I can’t help wondering what else might grow in old boxtrees … avocados perhaps? The importance of these TinTs to the general re-evaluation of Indigenous botanical & agricultural skills needs to be recognised and the Kamilaroi ancestors credited. I thank the authors Bill Gammage & Bruce Pascoe for leading the debate and asking us to reconsider our attitudes and ingrained prejudices. I ask the gardeners among you … do you think you could get a tree to live inside another tree for 150 years or more? These are not grafts but fully functioning native trees sharing the same root space as old boxtrees. I hope to see an Indigenous owned & run tourism enterprise showing these TinTs & Ringtrees & other CMTs sometime soon. Thanks for listening and I’ll I leave it with you ….…Jane Pye
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Hello Jane,
I happened to hear the end of your interview with Angela Catterns this evening and had to do some craft googling to find out more. I had never heard of scar trees, so I am so grateful that I have now stumbled upon this fascinating part of our first nations culture. Thanks for putting together this website.
Kind regards,
Dani
I think we have a lot more to learn Dani. The authors Bill Gamage & Bruce Pascoe really opened my eyes to Australia pre 1788. It wasn’t just the British but the Spanish & other Europeans that thought their civilisation was supreme & the ‘new world’ had nothing to teach them. I think the mega fires now in Australia are showing how wrong they were…
Love your site and your work, Jane! Thanks for creating this fantastic resource and helping to valorise these important living cultural forms. It’s possibly too late to be of use, but forget Google Earth – to pinpoint your coordinates I would use Sixmaps (https://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/) – not google maps. It’s tailored for NSW, has much higher resolution (you can almost make out the leaves of individual trees) plus it has a grid coordinate tool to pinpint your tree (avoiding the American differential). I’m working with the Dharriwaa Elders on a couple of projects that draw from traditional forms like scarred trees. I hope to make my way out to Walgett towards the end of the year from Northern Rivers area.
Thanks so much for that advice Steven, I will give Sixmaps a try. Im not a technophobe but am not good with new software/computer programs so it will be a ‘steep learning curve’ as they say.I would like a mapping program where I could add a photo of the CMT (esp. ringtrees & marker/pointer trees & trees in trees) Dharriwaa (Wendy Spencer) brought out some hydrologists from UNSW yesterday & some of the interested Elders to map the coordinates of the old wells & patches of remnant Redgums. The paleo river that still flows underneath this murrumanaarr (Moramana) landscape must be close to the surface and accessible to tree roots in some places. Redgums would not survive here on rainfall alone (17″). The Elders were unable to explain the Trees in Trees phenomenon. The rangeland ecologist Jennifer Silcock has been travelling in semi arid southern Qld for 6 weeks & hasnt seen any at all. Even on paleochannels with huge old box trees around Charleville & Windorah area. Jen wants to start adding the TinT measurements here onto an excel spreadsheet & formally document the absences elsewhere in similar country. So ideally we need a google earth type map where you can clik on the marker & see the TinT & the guest/host circumference data? I would love to catch up with you Steven when you are in Walgett. Before the people here were ‘interrupted’ I think they were doing something so revolutionary & extraordinary with tree/plant translocation that we can only guess at now. Please stay in contact, regards jane
There are three tools that might help: ‘identify tool’ (with which you can add property./site details, pinpoint a tree and draw simple polygons; an ‘image dropper’ (add your own photos, drawings, notes etc); a csv dropper (which allows you to drop in an excel type table with data). The Tree in Tree phenomenon is fascinating. Inosculation is a natural phenomenon where trunks, branches and/or roots of two trees grow together. It is biologically similar to grafting and some indeed look like grafts. I have seen trees planted so close together that causes them to fuse. One may outcompete the other. Some trees, like strangler figs have a strategy to envelop their host – using it as a scaffold to get to the light. In the Kimberley (Napier Range) I’ve seen interlocking branches of two tree species seeming to hug. Trees that inosculate are referred to in forestry as gemels, from the Latin word meaning “a pair”. It’s hard to say from the photos if these are naturally occuring or grafted.
Looking at the TinT photographs truly make me wonder how much of what I had once presumed to be a fantastic quirk of nature was carefully cultivated into that shape. I think you might be onto something with the TinT phenomena. Thanks again – I will stay in contact. Regards
Steve
Steve Ive been using 6maps on a 2500 acre paddock we are offering BCT nsw but I cant save any maps? They want features like tanks/dams added but when you draw in one & move on to the next the original marker disappears. There are many scalded flats that need ponding so I outline them with the area function but that area vanishes when I move onto the next one. This is what SS SDS says “Spatial Services SIX Maps does not have the functionality to save maps, it is a viewing platform only.” Do you know of any other mapping programs that allows you to save & build on the map as well as add photos & data? The connection between Ringtrees & TinTs & shelter scars/coolamons needs to be explored. In regards to “gemels” here it the coolabah & leopardwood that inosculate readily and the supplejack takes the role of a strangler fig. I think it required many generations to make a bimblebox ring but the end result is a sight to see. Seeing multiple ringtrees around a waterhole is a sure sign of its past significance even though today it is barely a dip in the ground. The silting up over time and change in land use is responsible but how TinTs fit in we dont know. If Ringtrees mean reliable water here do Trees in Trees mean reliable food? (nardoo, darling lillies, fruit, small fauna)
Sorry you’re having no joy with SIXmaps, Jane. I presume you registered first? I tried calling them – hoping to get through to a human being, but probably due to COVID the line isn’t being serviced – so I emailed them asking for instructions on the use of the tools as a reliable way to store info. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve heard back. There are other mapping toolsets and Apps if you register with Spatial Services (NSW Gov) on the same site. Any info you input is stored safely You can choose your own templates to build your own ‘Story Map’: https://storymaps-classic.arcgis.com/en/how-to/
You’re asking some great questions from your observations. If the TinT phenomenon is the result of a deliberate propagation program to stimulate regeneration of permaculture type plants, it’s not only a brilliantly successful permacultural strategy (as evidenced by the bundled seedlings scattered around the TinT seed nursery), to my knowledge it’s also unique. It demands a really long term, trans-generational view – a way of future-proofing against harsh conditions, as well as an intimate and sophisticated knowledge of micro-climate / micro/habitat management and individual species successional growth strategies. Dating the trees would show at least what came first – the TinT or the other bigger trees. If you could establish that they are from a common, genetically identical root stock (clone) it would establish at least they are related – narrowing down the incidental ‘bird vector’ theory (not completely discounting it). Dendrochronology is often not helpful in Oz due to erratic growth seasons and absence of growth rings – plus who wants to damage a tree that is still standing? There’s radiocarbon dating – may help (not sure of accuracy).
Are any of the TinTs known to have Mallee type growth habit? – if so they may even be genetically identical.
Perhaps the most practical way is to use growth models based on increments in tree diameter growth measured over time. Comparing the TinT to the surrounding seedlings/.clones has the potential to demonstrate in one year (or less, depending on rains) if you’re on the right track.
Actually I am getting help from the sixmap people Steve, who have sent a link to their Spatial map viewer, which seems more useful (thank you Jane from SS SDS) I will try it out tonight when I get my light fixed above my laptop. Re the TinT phenomenon – I think we have to be careful of our unconscious racial bias when limiting the possibilities here. This is a very harsh environment & during last iceage the mighty Barwon river which had accumulated over 100 ft of sand in places failed totally. When the climate shifted & the weather became warmer & wetter again the river chose its present course and we were left with sandhills & an underground channel. The fact that the Gomilaroi people are still here is a major feat of endurance & ingenuity in itself. The climate catastrophe of 12,000 (ish) yrs ago would have shaped both our present environment & the descendants of the survivors. You only need to look on Google earth & can easily make out the old river & even the old old river in terms of the Macquarie which has moved twice. Its the paleo rivers that hold the secrets and are now just a series of interconnected boxtree swamps which drain into the Murray Darling river system.
Steve I think the bird vector theory is a product of our unconscious racial bias because we are reluctant to believe the people possessed enough nous to think of something along the lines of a doomsday vault. Why wouldn’t they be storing the seed from their best “orchards” & trading along the width & breadth of this county for improved species. Did the plants & the people become dependent on each other and the seeds survival depended on the human gut? The main problem with the bird droppings theory is that the TinTs should be more randomly distributed. Why do I have botanists/ecologists telling me they’ve never seen them before? Of the millions of eucalypts birds could shit in why do they chose the ones around Aboriginal camps. There are plenty of birds & box trees all over Australia so why the strong correlation between TinTs & Ringtrees & CMTs in general? And water is the other factor – they are always around water courses, holes, catchments, chains of billabongs ect. I suggest the guests needed to be watered to get their roots down far enough to survive in competition or cooperation with the host.
Re dendrochronology I have a guest Quinine only 4 cm in diameter being radiocarbon dated now and the result should be available any day. Basically you can date anything that was once alive but the new machine at UNSW is on the blink so Dr Jonathan Palmer sent quinine slice to NZ. I have also sent some to a private lab in Washington state US but it is still in the mail. Testing costs $300 US a sample as I dont have any institutional backing and couriers another $150 so I just sent it via Aust Post & hoped for the best. I dont have any backing unfortunately not even Dharriwaa will put a link to this website on theirs? What I do have is the freedom to come up with my own ideas & talk to very smart people like yourself with open hearts & minds.
Im not sure what you mean by mallee growth habit Steve but some of the guests do sucker to reproduce. Rosewood & whitewood sucker and the peach bush forms thick clusters so Im guessing it does too. Yes I agree we should test a tree-living peach bush (Ehretia membranifolia) with a ground-living one below to find out which came first. There is a manual coring devise but Jen Silcock & I couldnt get it more than half a cm into any of the guests. What we need is a battery operated drill with an attachment that seals & stores a core of timber. The US lab only requires a piece the size of a toothpick to determine its age. Apparently Gidgee only grows 1 mm in a good year & can be 700 – 1000 yrs old. I wouldnt mind betting some of the gnarly old boonery trees are a similar vintage & one of these guests has grown so big its broken out of its bimblebox host & killed it.
We should know the lifespans & germination habits of out own inland trees Steve & I shouldnt be trying to figure this out untrained, unsupported & unfunded by our “institutions”. We should be testing all the trees, shrubs & plants living around these old Gomilaroi camps because they were traded, planted, nurtured & selectively bred over thousands of years. Aboriginal people still use them for various complaints – I cant imagine the Chinese abandoning their traditional medicines anytime soon just because we have more modern drugs now. Anyway I will just keep on looking, photographing & speculating because I love these trees & have the utmost respect for people who loved them before me. I very much appreciate your interest & input & hope to meet in person one day soon. XXXX jane