48 Hardv, Tall Trees of Australia. [vc)["^''xxxv 



which, being interpreted, means that Kerner's accepted 

 maximum height and circumference of the White Mountain 

 Ash, E. regnans, are respectively 500 feet and 82^ feet, and 

 corresponding figures for the Big Tree, Sequoia gigantea, are 

 466 feet and 113^ feet approximately. Kerner probably 

 accepted F. v. M.'s figures, but this point remains. Anton 

 Kerner von Marilaun was professor of botany in the University 

 of Vienna, and his " Natural History of Plants " was translated 

 by Professor Oliver, of London University, assisted by two 

 graduates in science; and Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, M.D., 

 &c., was Government Botanist of Victoria, and a botanist of 

 world-wide repute. They were not Australians, nor even 

 Britons, and unlikely to be swayed by unconscious bias in 

 favour of Australian trees, but . 



Search for Tall Trees Enxouraged. 



An attempt was made to gather reliable information about 

 our tall or big trees in order to place it on show at the Centennial 

 Exhibition, Melbourne, in 1888. A reward of £20 was offered 

 to anyone w^ho would guide the authorities to a tree of 400 feet 

 in height, with an additional reward of £^ for every 5 feet in 

 excess. The Hon. James Munro personally offered :£ioo in 

 addition to the foregoing. We may be sure that land sur- 

 veyors, cattle men, forest rangers, paling splitters, miners 

 fossicking for tin along the mountain forest streams, and others, 

 were on the look-out for tall trees. Then, if ever, was the 

 time for the fabulous giants to materiahze ; but, although 

 Government surveyors and others were instructed to report, 

 and the money reward widely advertised, the tallest tree found 

 was only 326 feet i inch in height, with the small girth of 

 25 feet 7 inches at 6 feet from the ground. This tree was 

 discovered on a spur of Mount Baw Baw, Gippsland, about 

 90 miles from Melbourne. The tree of greatest girth was found 

 near Neerim township, about 80 miles easterly from Melbourne ; 

 it measured 55 feet 7 inches round at 6 feet from the ground, 

 and 227 feet up to where the top was broken off. The seven 

 trees of note were photographed and measured, and the record 

 shown at the Exhibition was an atlas, folio size, entitled " The 

 Giant Trees of Victoria," the survey and photography having 

 been effected by a party including Mr. J. Duncan Pierce, civil 

 engineer and photographer, and Mr. C. R. Cunningham, 

 surveyor ; Mr. W. Davidson, late chief engineer of the Public 

 Works Department, was associated with these. The work 

 cost £600, the cost being borne by the Lands Department, the 

 Public Library trustees, and the Exhibition Commissioners. 



The following tabulation is an extract from the State Forests 

 Department's annual report 1910-11, in whicli a summary of 



