A 60 plus meter Eucalyptus microcorys, tallowwood, growing in Bellinger River National Park.
While its true that eucalypts rose to dominance after Gondwana broke up and Australia began to dry out as the climate changed. It turns out that they are not such a young plant family. 52 million year old fossils closely related and almost identical to modern eucalypts have been found in Patagonia in Southern Argentina. These are the oldest eucalypt fossils in the world and suggest that eucalypt forests once occurred over parts of modern day South America. Eucalypt fossils are also found in New Zealand. And while its hard to prove a Gondwanan distribution with the current fossil record, or lack there of. It is certainly tantalizing. Nowadays, The South American and Kiwi Eucalypts are extinct but the fossils remain to illustrate a potential Gondwanan link of Australia’s most abundant tree family. Modern Eucalypts broke away from a common ancestor around 60 million years ago, with some notable species like Tallowwood going back over 40 million years.
Another fantastic tree genus from Australia and New Zealand the Kauri pine also appears in the fossil record in Patagonia. Still other examples like Nothophagus, the southern Beeches. And Araucaria, think Hoop pine and the Monkey puzzle tree still occur on both sides of the Pacific. The ancient past of our part of the planet is still observable in our modern forests. In fact NSW has some of the oldest surviving forest ecosystems in the world. Places like the New England NP are a perfect location to step back in time and be immersed in these ancient forests.
flooded gum or rose gum, eucalyptus grandis Growing in lowland rainforest in Oakes state forest.
In the context of Australia when we think of Gondwanan forests we think of our rainforests in places like the Dorrigo National Park. Look a little closer at many of our areas forests and its easy to see the way that eucalypts and rainforest co-exist. A perfect example is at the Norm Jolly Memorial Grove in Nymboi-Binderay National Park, not far from Dorrigo. This is probably one of the most impressive stands of Tallowwood in the country with many trees over 50 meters in height and some over 8 meters in circumference. Growing among and below these tallows can be found a range of rain forest species like coachwood, yellow carrabeen and brush box. This kind of forest is much more common on richer soils then pure rain forest like at the Dorrigo NP. These mixed forests may well be more typical of ancient forests then we once supposed. In fact its in one of these mixed forests we find the first documented 80m trees in NSW.
A giant ficus sp. or is it two species? growing in lowland rainforest near Bellingen, NSW.
North East NSW has some of the most diverse tall forests in the world These forests consist of 143 species of eucalypt found in 159 different eucalypt forest ecosystems. The forests also contain about 3412 other plant species and 695 vertebrates. Some animals like the echidna, pouched frog and the rufous scrubbird are ancient species that lived in these same forest ecosystems when dinosaurs still roamed through them. Invertabrites and fungi are also plentiful but much more work would be needed to catalog them. There is a movement among some eucalypt enthusiasts to see these forests nominated for world heritage listing. Currently many of the publicly owned forests in northern NSW are used for timber production but these industrial logging regimes are loosing public support and are leading to declines in wildlife populations and in the quality and resilience of the forests. In an age of man made climate change our regions forests could be better used. A Koala National Park network would be a better way to showcase these amazing forests and ensure Australia’s unique forest biota have a bright future.
I have started this blog to share some of the best examples of giant trees in NSW and to help to showcase their value and significance! Enjoy.
Gondwana Trees 