Emily's Arch Myrtle on Weld Hill

Some People just cannot help themselves! But some go about it in different ways. Some keep on going back to the same place to watch what happens to ‘the place’. Others, well they trash places and walk away and somehow allow themselves to forget all about what they’ve done. Apparently, and reportedly, ‘the trashing’ gives them a huge charge!

Emily's Arch Myrtle at Weld Hill marks just such a place. Indeed, this image was made in 2003 and this extraordinary tree only escaped the trashers’ worst efforts because it happened to be growing in a streamside reserve. That wouldn’t always save it but that’s another story. Anyway, it did this time!

Emily (the tree) is a placemarker and a not so silent witness to the utter devastation that hungry (greedy!?) forestry practices visit upon Tasmanian landscapes to feed pulp mills.

Nowadays, Emily is surrounded by a monoculture plantation. Ironically, in time these plantation trees too will probably be fed into a pulp mill somewhere leaving the place Emily marks icrementally devastated. Watch the comments here as it is a good guess that the GOOGLEearth references will allow you to visit Emily’s spot via cyberspace.

Presumably, and all at once, it is planned that this landscape will be planted out with yet more fast growing Eucalyptus nitens which in time will be harvested all at once. Sadly, this will leave the place Emily marks just that little bit more impoverished. But before that, there will probably be a lot of topsoil that will find its way into the Tamar further increasing the flood risk in Launceston.

Oh, and while they are growing these plantation trees will also be using a lot of water that was once available for all sorts of other things including flushing the ecosystem.

Watching places is an educative activity that big resource companies wish nobody would do. A good reason to keep doing it perhaps!?

A Link to another story about Emily the Arch Myrtle