Here at The Local Rag, we are very big fans of trees. We love everything about them. But it seems the residents of Warburton, and the Yarra Ranges Council haven’t been a fan of trees of late—specifically a 150-year-old mountain grey gum tree called ‘Warburton Tree’ situated on the Warburton Highway in the town it’s named for.
Also Read: The Tallest Trees in Victoria
In the dead of night in June 2023, the famed Warburton Tree was cut down to almost a stump, with Yarra Ranges Council claiming ‘safety concerns’. The cost? $400,000.
For some, that might seem like an absurd amount of tax payer money to spend on removing a tree, especially one that provides a habitat for native animals and beloved by the community. Resident Nicole Fisher runs a Facebook page that has advocated for the tree during the process.
“It’s been like a member of the community,” Nicole told Yahoo News Australia.
“It provides quite a lot of habitat and a couple of galahs keep coming back to it. Lots of kids climb the tree and people have grown up with it,” she added.
In June, Yarra Ranges Council outlined why the cost was so high, sighting aborist work, legal fees, traffic management, and more to explain the exorbitant cost.
Thankfully the Warburton Tree still stands in some capacity, continuing to provide a home to kookaburras, possums, and more as it has done for the past 150 years. As of August 9, a petition has been put to council to create a 10-metre exclusion zone around the tree to protect it from further damage.
To keep up to date on the ongoing Warburton Tree saga, head to the Facebook page.
