14 February 2013 Mary Fraser - The Boab Tree of Perth
Thu, Feb 14th 2013 at 12:00 am - 12:00 am
Mary Fraser gave a fascinating talk on this very unusual tree and the 3200km move from its original location to the Botanic Gardens in Perth, Western Australia.
The Boab Tree of Perth
After a series of delays, member Mary Fraser finally was able to present her fascinating talk at last Thursday's meeting at the Westlands Hotel.
Intriguingly entitled, 'The Boab Tree of Perth', Mary explained how she came to discover the history of this very unusual tree.
She was in a group who had travelled to Perth, Australia, to attend a family wedding and had visited the Botanic Gardens in Perth where this tree is now located. Mary explained that Perth is one of the most remote cities in the world, it would take two and a half days continuous driving to get to the next city, Adelaide. The climate is very hot and dry, with only 850mm average annual rainfall, ideal conditions for the Boab (or Bottle) tree. However, this was no indigenous specimen and it had, in fact been uprooted from its original location, some 3200 km north of Perth in the Kimberley region. Not only did it have to survive such a long journey, it also had to do so as a senior citizen, being around 750 years old! Weighing in at 14 tonnes, 14 metres high and an 8meter branch span, the tree had to be transported on a huge truck, with police escort for its 6 day journey.
Such was its celebrity status that thousands of people turned out to welcome it on arrival in Perth in 2008. After an anxious wait to see if it had survived such an upheaval, fresh shoots finally appeared and now, over 4 years later, the tree is doing well.
After fielding several questions from members, Mary was warmly thanked for an extremely interesting presentation by Graham Houston.
In other business, President Iain Smith advised that the Interact Club at Queen Victoria School would receive its Charter on 27 February, and all members were invited to attend this momentous event; the Primary School Quiz would be held in the Parish Church Hall in Bridge of Allan at 4pm on Friday 1 March and the date for the Art Auction was now 29 March at the Doubletree by Hilton Hydro in Dunblane.
