73 
The late Forest Ranger Kidston, a most experienced man, called it “Coolabah” 
of the Lachlan (several other trees go by this name). The same name is in use on 
the Bogan. He also called it “ Swamp White Box,” because of the often greyish 
or whitish appearance of the bark. It is sometimes also called “ White—or Grey 
Box.” 
In poorer or drier soil it forms a small tree, sometimes called “ Scrub Box,” 
or “ Dwarf Box.” 
It is an abundant and well-known tree and can be recognised without 
difficulty after a little practice. The names I recommend for this tree are as good 
as any. 
Aboriginal Names. —The “Goborro” of the aborigines of western New 
South Wales ; “ Marura ” is another name. 
The following extracts from Mitchell’s Three Expeditions are interesting in 
this connection:— 
The alluvial portion of the margin of the Darling is narrow, and in most places overgrown with the 
Dwarf Box (Mitchell’s Three Exped. i, 302). 
. . . the trees which grew along the banks of the Lachlan. All were of the Dwarf Box kind, 
named Goborro by the natives, a sort of Eucalyptus which usually grows by itself on the lower margins of 
the Darling and Lachlan, and other parts subject to inundation, and on which the occasional rise of the 
waters is marked by the dark colour remaining on the lower part of the trunk. {Op. cit. ii, 30.) 
Clumps of trees of the Flooded Box or “ Marura ” of the natives appeared occasionally (near the 
Lachlan) in and about the many hollows in the surface (ii, 49). 
The small kind (of Eucalyptus) covered with a rough bark, and never exceeding the size of fruit 
trees in an orchard, and called, I believe, by Mr. Oxley, the Dwarf Box, but by the natives Goborro, grows 
only on plains subject to inundation, and it usually bears on the lower part of the trunk the mark of the 
water by which it is at times surrounded. Between the Goborro and the Yarra (E. rostrata ) there seems 
this difference : the Yarra grows only on the banks of rivers, lakes, and ponds, from the water of which 
the roots derive nourishment; but when the trunk itself has been too long immersed, the tree dies, as 
appeared on various lakes and in reedy swamps on the Lachlan. The Goborro, on the contrary, seldom 
grows on the banks of a running stream, but seems to thrive in inundations, however long their duration 
(ii, 55). 
As has been already stated, the name Coolabah (which is of aboriginal origin) 
is applied to these trees in the Lachlan district. It is also in use about Murrum- 
bidgerie (Dubbo district). Dr. T. L. Bancroft tells me that the same name is in use 
for the same tree on the Diamantina in Western Queensland. It also bears the 
same name on the Mulligan River. 
“ Curra Curra” of the aborigines, Wilcannia district (P. Corbett). 
The name “Booligal” is sometimes applied to it, and is possibly the 
origin of the name of the township. 
Synonyms. — Eucalyptus largijlorens, F.v.M.; Eucalyptus pendula, A. Cunn. 
For an account of these synonyms, see my “Critical Revision of the genus 
Eucalyptus,” Part XI, p. 7. 
