A HUGE Banksia tree has toppled in Edithvale, but it may receive a second life soon.
The huge tree on Clydebank Road fell at around 3am on 8 July. Nobody was hurt, but a car was left damaged.
After helping clean up the area, Chelsea SES contacted the Carrum Indigenous Nursery to take a look at the fallen tree. Nursery members came and took seed pods from the tree, so that it may one day live on.
Volunteer nursery member Lesley Smart helped collect seeds alongside her husband Jason. She said “We were so thrilled that Chelsea SES took the time to call us and give us the opportunity to collect the seed pods.”
“Even if we only get one seedling to take, that will still guarantee that this beautiful old tree’s history would live on,” she said.
The nursery estimates that the tree stood for a century before falling.
Chelsea SES member Phil Wall said that the nursery was contacted after a huge online response to the news of the tree falling. “We found that the tree was classed as a remnant tree, meaning a native tree that remains in the landscape after removal of most or all of the native vegetation in the immediate vicinity. We knew the tree had age, so what could we do,” he said. “We contacted Carrum Indigenous Nursery to see if they were interested in collecting some seed pods from the tree, so as to continue this very old tree’s story, using the pods to grow some seedlings for planting. This way, the tree would live on, in a different place maybe, but still with the same history.
“After about an hour of foraging through the foliage, Lesley and Jason believe they had collected enough seeds to plant up to 100 seedlings, amazing. The other thing they collected was the green Banksia flowers. These are then given out to kinders and primary schools for the kids to use as paint brushes, as they have been used for so long by Indigenous artists.”
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 19th July 2023