1G2 
Henniker Heaton states that on the Blacks' Spur were two trees, one, alive, measuring 420 feet in 
height, and the other (prostrate) 480 feet high. He adds that Baron Mueller is the authority for these 
measurements. One version, therefore, states that the 420 feet tree is prostrate, and the other that it is 
alive. If these statements are correct, then two trees of this stupendous height are referred to. Following 
is another account of the 480 feet tree. A note by Mueller in the Gardener s’ Chronicle for 1862 says 
that several trees had been recently measured at the Upper Yarra and on the Dandenong. He adds : 
“The highest known is ascertained to be 480 feet, and, therefore, as high as the Great Pyramid.” The 
same writer, in Seemann’s Journal of Botany, says it was a Mr. Klein who measured a tree on the Blacks’ 
Spur, 10 miles from Healesville, and found it to be 480 feet high. Mueller, in his “Select Extra Tropical 
Plants,” states that a tree was measured in the Cape Otway Ranges 415 feet high, and 15 feet in diameter. 
A nether tree measured at the base of the stem 69 feet in circumference ; at 12 feet from the ground, 14 
feet in diameter ; at 78 feet, 9 feet in diameter ; at 144 feet, 8 feet in diameter ; and at 210 feet, 5 feet. 
All these trees belong to the species described by Mueller as Eucalyptus reynans , on account of its crowning 
height. It is the tree known in Victoria variously as “White Gum, Messmate, and Peppermint ” (it varies 
much in the bark), and Mueller alludes to it as “ the tallest tree of the globe, surpassing even the renowned 
California Sequoia and Wellington pines in height, reaching to 400 feet, and even more.” 
On another occasion, he continues to limit the height to about 400 feet. “ In our sheltered springy 
forest glens attaining not rarely a height of over 400 feo\” In 1862, he, in Seemann’s Journal of Botany, 
state 1 that Mr. E. B. Heyne measured a tree at the Dandenong 295 feet to first branch, diameter at first 
branch, 4 feet. To the point where broken off, 70 feet; total, 365 feet. Diameter at fracture, 3 feet; 
girth of stem 3 feet from the ground, 41 feet. Although not up to the 400 feet standard, this is a very 
big tree, and I am sorry that we have not evidence which would warrant our accepting it. In fact, these 
old records are simply unreliable, in spite of their apparent attention to details. 
We will go a step higher. In 1889, the Hon. F. Stanley Dobson, of Melbourne, quoted Mueller 
as having stated in his “ Botanical Teachings,” that our gum trees attain a height of 500 feet. I cannot 
trace this particular reference, but I have other references of such a height to which Mueller gave currency. 
For example, in Seemann’s Journal of Botany, he states that Mr. George W. Robinson, in the back 
ranges of Berwick, found a tree 81 feet in girth 4 feet from the ground, and supposes that towards the 
sources of the Yarra and Latrobe Rivers it attains 500 feet. 
Another contemporary account says that Mr. W. G. Robinson, of Berwick, Victoria, in a journey 
from Gippsland to Mount Baw Baw, saw and measured a tree 500 feet high, Later on, in an edition of 
the “Select Extra Tropical Plants,” the name of the finder and the height are varied. “Mr. G. W. 
Robertson, surveyor, measured a tree at the foot of Mount Baw Baw 471 feet high.” 
But we have not reached high-water mark yet. Mr. David Boyle, who for twenty-seven years had 
been identified with big trees, in 1889 wrote to the Melbourne Argus, giving 525 feet as the height of a 
tree known to him some years previously. As this was considered to be rather “ tall,” and is, I 
believe, the greatest height in or out of Australia claimed for a tree, Mr. Boyle replied to inquiries : 
“ I determined to have it photographed and measured, ten years having elapsed since I measured it 
before.I found it. The tree was healthy, the only change in it since I saw it last being that 
a portion of the top was blown away. The measurement now is 466 feet high, and its circumference 
4 feet from the ground, 81 feet; base, 114 feet.” 
Visitors to the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1888 will remember the photographs of a 
large-butted Guru-tree by Mr. N. J. Caire, photographer, who stated that he had come across this monster 
in Gippsland, and that its height was 464 feet. He called it “The Baron,” after von Mueller. Here was 
something very definite to go upon. The trustees of the Public Library, Melbourne, voted £100, the 
trustees of the Exhibition Building another £100, ihe Minister for Lands promised a sum not exceeding 
£800 to have this leviathan measured and photographed. Aher some hesitancy on the part of the 
photographer, the identical tree photographed was found. The Inspector of Forests and a Government 
surveyor measured it accurately, and found it to be 219 feet 9 inches. Here was a come-down. “No tree 
in the neighbourhood reached 300 feet.” The tree, of which a specific measurement was given, was found, 
on actual measurement, to be less than half its reputed height. The Hon. James Munro, Premier of 
Victoiia, thereupon offered a reward of £100 out of his own pocket for any Victorian tree 400 feet in 
height, and the reward has remained unclaimed to this day. 
It turned out that Mr. Boyle’s tree and Mr. Cairo’s ti'ee were identical, so that the 525 feet 
tree shrank over 300 feet. The public interest aroused at the time brought a crop of other guesses and 
measurements. 
