Settlement Giant

The Settlement Giant is the name the friends have given the large Mountain Grey Gum on the corner of Settlement Rd and Springwater Dr in Drouin.

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Settlement Giant - a Drouin icon

Early timber harvesters in the area more than likely decided the aberrant trunk structure made the tree less valuable commercially and left the tree to stand. Their loss is our gain.

The benefits this large tree gives the Drouin residents of today are many – sequestering carbon, absorbing particulates and giving off oxygen, providing shade, reducing ambient temperatures, mitigating run off and erosion, providing a windbreak, blocking noise pollution, improving property values, encouraging a healthy lifestyle, etc.

Evidence even suggests the crime rate is lower in well treed urban areas. And, of course the benefits to urban wildlife are well documented.

Eight significant hollows were easily identified

The Settlement giant has numerous small and large hollows. Most eucalypts take around 100 years to BEGIN forming hollows. The number and extent of hollows in a eucalypt is a factor that some ‘experts’ use to help determine the age of such a tree. 

This line-up gives the tree some proportion!

Wes, Bill, Jo and Judy with some of Jo's finished works

Yesterday, the Settlement Giant was immortalized by Baw Baw Shire’s Artist in Residence, Jo Caminiti. Jo’s work was admired by friends and passers-by alike … 

… and even by some of the arboreal residents!

Next week, between 10am and 3pm, Jo will be celebrating and ennobling some more of Drouin’s Giants:-

Sunday 20^th, The Grandfather in Civic Park.

Monday 21^st, Whitton’s Giant, 123 Hopetoun Rd.

Tuesday 22^nd, The town entry avenue in Main South Rd.

Wednesday 23^rd, Victoria Rd Giant, 20-22 Victoria St.

Thursday 24^th, Bill Kraft Giant, 39 Albert Rd.