122 THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES ON THE GIANT TREES OF VICTORIA. 



By N. J. Caire. 



(Communicated by F. G. A. Barnard.) 



{Read before the Field Naturalists^ Club of Victoria, Ith Nov., 1904.) 



The giant trees of Victoria are found in limited numbers on the 

 Great Dividing Range and its spurs, and in the South Gippsland 

 ranges. It need hardly be stated that, while our giant trees 

 represent two or three distinct species, all are members of the 

 great genus eucalyptus, the characteristic timber tree of the 

 Australian continent. 



In the study of a giant tree two points have to be considered — 

 viz., girth and height. To be a giant in girth it should measure, 

 with a tightly-drawn tape, not less than 40 feet in circumference 

 at 5 feet from the ground, while to be regarded as a giant in 

 height it should raise its trunk and topmost branches at least 

 250 feet above the soil. Few of our giant trees combine these 

 two qualifications. 



The conditions under which they grow vary very much. Thus 

 quality of soil, amount of shelter, exposure to sunlight, and 

 accessibility of moisture from river or creek each have their 

 influence. Certain combinations will produce the giant in girth, 

 while from another set of conditions will arise the giant in height, 

 without great girth. That there are thousands of trees in our 

 forests measuring 20 to 30 feet in girth goes without saying, 

 probably of great age, but, wanting favourable conditions, have 

 come to maturity more slowly, and will probably die their natural 

 death at those dimensions, or perhaps become a prey to the 

 borer insect, like the many thousands of white spectres still 

 standing in our forests. Thus the giant trees of Victoria are 

 comparatively few in number, and occur mostly in the southern 

 portions of the State. 



Unfortunately, fire has greatly reduced their numbers, even 

 in recent years. Thus we have lost " Big Ben," the parent of the 

 Black Spur forest, a splendid specimen of £. amygdalina, with 

 a solid trunk, without a sign of decay, 57 feet in girth. Poor 

 " Ben" was unprotected, and was caught in the great bush-fires 

 of 1902, and killed. He probably was a sapling when the people 

 of England were semi-barbaric. He sent his gigantic roots 

 down into mother earth to enable him to withstand the shocks 

 of wind and storm century after century, whilst nation after 

 nation has risen, held its sway for a time, has conquered or 

 been subdued. 



Some guide as to the age of trees of such a size may be gathered 

 from the fact that one was felled in order to cut a section for use as 

 an exhibit at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. From the centre to 

 the bark there appeared a series of rings or band-like markings, 



