Weekly drawing 44: Wise old forest Red Gum - Sydney's oldest citizen

Wise old forest Red Gum

This weeks drawing is the start of children's book idea about the massive Forest Red Gum living in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. As the oldest living Sydney citizen the tree has seen many changes from Aboriginal corroborees, arrival of Governer Phillip, First fleets farming attempts, the building Harbour bridge, the building of the Opera house and the growth of the city. The story will follow the tree from young impressionable seedling to wise old Forest Red Gum.

The original seed of this idea began after reading Tim Low's insightful book 'The New Nature'

"Inner Sydney's oldest citizen is surely the massive Forest Red Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis) in the botanic gardes near Lion Gate Lodge. She is a stand-out example of Sydney's original architecture, with no plaque to tell her story and no rail to guard her dignity. Australians can't see the past for the trees"... Tim Low  The New Nature