80 
Aboriginal Name.—“ Till ” of those of Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane 
(G. Watkins). 
Fruit. —The fruit is a favourite food of wood-pigeons, which assimilate the 
thin fleshy covering of the seed, rejecting the latter. When ripe the fruit is of a 
lustrous, rich indigo blue or purple colour, and grows to the size of a large pigeon’s 
egg. It is obovoid-oblong, f to 1 inch long, hut occasionally is distinctly pear- 
shaped, as shown in the figure, (k on Plate.) 
Bark. —The hark is pale-brown and cork like, the inner hark is of a bright 
orange yellow. When fresh it is soft and juicy, and is used for colouring boat-sails 
of a reddish colour. ... 
In November, 1904, the following correspondence took place in the Sydney 
.Dully Telegraph in regard to this Cork :— 
A correspondent wrote :—“ Few people are aware that we have in our bush lands in the County of 
Cumberland a considerable quantity of indigenous Cork trees. Many years ago I drew public attention to 
these particularly handsome trees, and now the subject has again been forced under my notice in coming 
across a scandalous destruction of a grove of this particular tree, some of which were giants, rivalling in 
size the Eucalyptus, and excelling in point of beauty and magnificence of foliage. These trees have been 
wilfully despoiled of their bark for the purpose of selling in the city by way of adornment for private 
gardens, so I am informed. 
“Our indigenous trees grow luxuriantly, and in the larger growths great thickness at times are come 
across in the bark of these trees. That being the case, it is evident that our climate is a natural habitat 
for the Cork tree. Lately there have been imported into this State large size sheets of cork, made up of 
refuse cork. The process, I believe, is a simple one, and as the product of cork from our indigenous trees 
is equal in quality to that of the imported, there possibly might be an opening in this direction in place of 
simply destroying the trees by bark denudation, as is now done, and committing a gross act of vandalism 
in so doing. In Spain, Portugal, France, Algeria, and Tunis the Cork tree of commerce flourishes, but 
from recent reports the industry is gradually falling off by reason of destruction for purposes other than 
the cork commodity of the tree.” 
I then wrote :— 
I shall be glad if your correspondent will give further particulars of the indigenous Cork trees whose 
bark “ is equal in quality to the imported.” Perhaps he might see fit to send you a flowering or fruiting 
twig. The name “Cork tree” is with us used to denote three or four different kinds of tree. It seems a 
pity to kill a handsome tree for a bit of bark, but unfortunately the timber of many of our trees has yet no 
recognised commercial value, and that a tree is handsome does not weigh with a man who seeks its 
destruction. 
The correspondent in complying with my request, stated :— 
The bark sent is the true bark separated from the skin and is, as you will see on examination, true 
cork. The tree from which these specimens were obtained was a young one, and only about 6 inches 
through in the stem. A larger size tree would of course yield a proportionately larger and thicker bark or 
cork product. 
The cork bark from these trees, if reduced to dust, cannot be distinguished from the powdered dust 
of the vei-y best imported material. Possibly, under cultivation, these handsome and picturesque trees 
could be brought to a state of perfection, so as to yield profitable results so far as the commercial product, 
cork, is concerned. In certain localities they are fairly plentiful, and where the hand of man or bush fii’es 
have not reached them, they form quite striking objects of interest in the vegetable kingdom of our State. 
The wood in times gone by, some fifty years ago, was much in use by the early colonists, and one of the 
uses it was put to was that of a material for wood engraving. 
