I’ve been wondering how to get CMTs & TinTs out into the ’academosphere’ lately so I emailed 2 very interesting science communicators – Prof Steven Pinker (Canadian-American) & Dr Karl Kruszelnicki (Australian) – having heard both recently on Radio National. Only one got back to me & he’s not an aussie …
”Dear Jane, Fascinating. This is well outside my professional area, but I would encourage you to contact as many Australian academics as you can in departments of biology and anthropology. Best of luck in calling attention to this fascinating phenomenon. Best, Steve”
So I did …
I sent out approx. 100 emails to all listed academic contacts in NSW universities that had departments in Botany/ Ecology & Anthropology/ Aboriginal studies. Surprisingly, around 14% replied but many of these were ‘out of office’ or ‘yeah .. nah not my field’ or bounce backs where this person no longer worked at the Uni. Still 7 researchers did reply & email conversations are ongoing. Indigenous academics are particularly important going forward as are those working in dendrochronology – tree agers – who attempt to determine how old trees like the coolabah below really are. The next pathetic photo shows my failed Wilga in eucalypt stump that has died despite my watering it for 2 summers from the adjacent 10,000 litre water tank. Not easy growing Trees in Trees as Sandra Winsor has also found at Gulargambone.
Sandra makes an interesting point about trees being good signposts as they are universal (on the east coast at least). She thinks not so much Art4Art sake but Mods4Messages (directional, territorial, spiritual, ceremonial) Here are some of our recent conversations starting with a quote she sent about NT tracker Billy Griffiths, the human GPS.
“In a world now dominated by digital navigation, it is easy to forget that orientation once lived entirely inside the human body. Inside memory. Inside pattern & recognition”
Sandra says “It makes perfect sense that trees were used to mark cultural information as they were available across the country! Once you focus on the mods in conjunction with the landscape it is possible to decipher the message. They are ancient signposts made by very clever people living completely in tune with environment”
Out here in the flat semi-arid NthWest of NSW not only are there no cliffs or caves to leave ochre handprints/ art/ symbols but there are few geographical markers to guide you. Obviously, people walking at night used the stars & this has been well documented, but many journeys would be in daylight. Many of these subtle & not so subtle “mods” that the people used to create marker/ directional trees are still here today. I hadn’t noticed this weird rosewood ringtree before and I have no idea how the people created it or over what timespan. Wood was like plasticine to the ‘old clever people’ as Allan Tighe calls them.
This old girl below, whether you call it Rosewood, Boonery, Bunbarr or Alectryon oleifolius, did NOT end up in a KNOT all by herself. She had a message for the people back then but now, unfortunately, we have forgotten how to read tree.
Sandra has plotted all her rosewoods on a mapping app & has found they arc around the catchment boundaries on her land. Is it possible the Weilwun grew rosewoods inside box trees to get the exact location right? She is drawing up maps/ photos/ diagrams for next blog. Rosewood/ Boonery/ Bunbarr are very difficult to grow from seed but willingly sucker in clumps. Here is the Gulargambone rosewood in box, notice how it has started to emerge out from the bottom of the trunk. Then look at this rosewood in box from the old wells here that has killed its host from the inside years ago. I wonder if the Weilwun/ Gulargambone box will survive this internal ‘sabotage’ or wind up split & dead like the Gomeroi/ Walgett box? Time will tell …
Sandra also poses these questions re TinTs being classified as CMTs & the protection of CMTs in NSW in general ie NOT JUST SCARRED TREES
- What do you think is the process to have these recognised & protected ??
- What Dept holds responsibility for specifications of a CMT ?
- As LLS are the ones giving permission for clearing, is it their call ?
- What role do LALCs really play in this ?
- Could a Landcare group with TO (Traditional Owners) members make a request ? To whom ?
Rosewoods aka Boonery are difficult to germinate if the seed is not fresh – Ive taken this excerpt from “Plants of Western NSW” G.M.Cunningham, W.E Mulham, P.L.Milthorpe & J.H.Leigh (CSIRO Publishing)
Here is another link to Rosewoods & what we know here as ‘Boonery bugs’ aka soapberry bugs (Leptocoris mitellatus) Cattlebush and Red-eyes Bugs — Mallee Conservation – “No germinants were observed for A. oleifolius under any treatment, and only one seed of the 50 examined under the microscope contained an intact embryo before commencing the experiment. Viability in A. oleifolius deteriorates rapidly with age, and Westbrooke (1998) found no viable seed following 12 months storage. Wisniewski and Parsons (1986) reported very low viability with less than 10% filled seed at most sites. However, a year later, they achieved 88–93% germination with nicked seed (Wisniewski and Parsons 1986), suggesting variability in viability between years. Seed used in this experiment was collected in late summer and stored for between seven to 10 months from commencement to completion of the experiment, and so it is likely the seed deteriorated in storage. Optimal germination rates have been found at high temperatures from3035C, and Burbidge (1960) suggested that this is consistent with A. oleifolius having originated in, or developed from elements from tropical climates, possibly explaining the reliance on vegetative reproduction in the more southerly areas of its distribution”
Do the soapberry/ boonery/ red-eyes bugs play a role in rosewood seed viability I wonder? They also feed on whitewood/ birraa (Atalaya hemiglauca) & other seeds produced by plants of the Sapindaceae family. Birds & spiders & lizards eat the bugs but I haven’t read they were a form of bush tucker like Bogong moths. South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board Significant flora FACT sheet (biodiversity) claims rosewood can live for 100 years or more but I think its WAY more. The FACT sheet also says
“It is thought that whole valleys or continuous areas colonised by this tree may originate from just one individual, with each plant genetically identical.”
More on the humble rosewood next blog but just check out this vintage specimen on its last legs below …
Not only rosewood branches were turned 360 degrees but coolabah branches could be given the same treatment. This tree below was struck by lightning in Dec. 2024 but only the top & one side of the coolabah is affected. In the last 10 years we’ve lost some extraordinary CMTs here just by natural attrition. So much time & skill went into the creation of these talking trees but now no one is listening
