Homage to the Eucalypt

As an Australian artist it is impossible not to develop a strong relationship with our eucalypts; they are after all the most dominant tree species in our landscape. They come in a great range of shapes and sizes and are a major part of our flora.

Eucalypts evolved to cope with Australia’s climate, having adapted to survive through drought and bushfire. Each year there is an increment of living bark that results in the continued expanding girth of the tree. In all species the outermost layer dies. The dead bark may be shed from these trees in large slabs, in ribbons or in small flakes. Old rotten limb hollows, or broken branches, provide nesting places for lizards, galahs, sulphur crested cockatoos, gang-gang cockatoos, cockatiels and various parrots.

Our trees are truly magnificent things. They move with the wind; flexible and strong, held tight to the ground by an expansive system of roots delving deep in the earth searching for water and nutrients. They stand tall in sheltered river banks and stoop close to the ground in the outback, responding to their environment in ways we can only dream of. They are silent and somehow wise.