Drouin’s favourite eucalypt

The voting for Drouin’s favourite eucalypt has concluded and the winner is … trumpet fanfare …

The Old Swimming Hole Giant in Lampard Rd, a magnificent Strzelecki Gum that measures 4.5m in trunk girth, about 30m tall and a canopy spread of 20m. This tree is estimated to be around 170 years old.

Many shires consider their trees as shire assets and apply a formula to their trees to determine a monetary value. Conservatively applying this formula to the Old Swimming Hole Giant gives a value of around $300,000!

The Strzelecki Gum, Eucalyptus strzeleckii, named after the early Gippsland explorer Paul Strzelecki, is a straight growing tree with bark variously described as mottled cream, yellow, white, pink, brown and even green. It can appear to be any or all of those colours at various times of the season.

The best strzeleckis tend to be found growing in fertile soils in places where their roots will get some occassional inundation. Their mature  leaves often have wavy edges and contain numerous oils glands – visible when held up to the light. Young leaves on new growth will often have a waxy appearance – the tree is sometimes called a Wax Tip.

At the bottom end of Lampard Rd, Ezra Cook, an early settler, selected 100 acres in 1878. This old giant would have been part of the landscape and quite a sizeable tree even then. On Ezra Cook’s land there was a fresh water pool fed by a spring and surrounded by beautiful bush with tree ferns. In about 1910 a formal swimming pool was constructed around the pool with steps going down. Many locals frequented the pool and it became well known as the ‘Swimming Hole’ of Drouin.

Due to its very limited distribution of small patches within West and South Gippsland, Eucalyptus strzeleckii is a species classified as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and as "threatened" under the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.

Impressive, valuable and certainly worth protecting. A deserved winner.