In the wake of the deliberate destruction of the iconic 800-years-old tree in Western Australia’s Wellington National Park south of Perth, environmentalist Bob Brown has written to Premier Cook asking for charges to be laid:

Hon. Roger Cook.
Premier of Western Australia.

Dear Premier Cook,

I am dismayed by news of the deliberate destruction of an 800-year-old peppermint eucalyptus in the Wellington National Park.

As a Greens senator, I visited the tree in 1999 at the invitation of local environmentalists and was pleased when it was protected in the park by the McGown government a few years later.

This iconic tree was of significance to Aboriginal people, attracted tourists and, of course, was a source of wonder and inspiration for everyone who visited it. But now it lies in ruins.

This cannot be dismissed as a mistake or misunderstanding. I seek your assurance that those responsible will be brought to justice, no less than the many citizens of Western Australia who have been or will be arrested, fined or jailed for protecting the environment were and will be arraigned.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Brown.

“The Cook government says this ecological disaster is ‘a mistake’. That is a cover-up. No Australian forest defender has ever escaped arrest and a fine or jail by telling the court their obstruction of a chainsaw was ‘a mistake’. Heritage tree destroyers should get no government or legal shelter which is not given to heritage tree defenders,” Bob Brown said.

“Australian governments are too cavalier about the deliberate destruction of natural and Aboriginal heritage. This has got to stop.”

“On 30 April 2024, two men were charged with criminal damage of the Sycamore Gap tree in Britain and a trial is expected to take place in December. That tree at Hadrian’s Wall had priceless values and was, according to the Woodland Trust, planted between 1860 and 1890. The WA tree was centuries older. The tragedy of its destruction requires a police enquiry and the minister responsible to take responsibility,” Brown said.