The spooky season is upon us and, while Halloween is not a longstanding tradition here down under, we love treats, dressing up and telling ghost stories. Halloween is here to stay, so why not make it a truly Australian festival?
If you’ve ever caught sight of an owl roosting in an old, hollowed-out eucalypt or the silhouette of twisted gum branches reaching like fingers across the moon and felt a touch of mystery and magic, then consider the haunting side of Australia’s beloved trees:
1. Ghost gums aglow on moonlit nights
If I ask you to picture Australia’s ghost gums, you’ll likely conjure up sunny images of bone-white tree trunks set against rich red rock escarpments, such as in Albert Namatjira’s beloved paintings. But catch them at night under a full moon to see their full, ghostly glory! Their branches become a skeletal spectre in the desert, their stark trunks luminescent apparitions.
Named after their ghostly white bark, a number of ghost gum species are widespread in central Australia. Eucalyptus aparrerinja is probably the most recognisable species (although its taxonomy is a live issue), found from Western Australia across the south of the Northern Territory to Barcaldine in Queensland.
If you can, why not take yourself on a walk to see these trees at night?
2. Ancient giants to give you the tingles
Setting foot in a tingle forest in WA is a portal to past worlds. Eucalypts are ancient, they’re first in the fossil record 52m years ago. While Australia experienced huge climatic shifts since the continent was part of Gondwana, the south-west of WA experienced much less change. The fact the forest here is dominated by tingle trees, especially the red tingle (Eucalyptus jacksonii), also gives it an otherworldly and prehistoric feel.
These trees can have a base circumference as large as 20 meters and some old giants manage to live on, despite being hollowed out by fire over generations.
As you step inside the hollow of these trees through the gaping mouth in its trunk, it’s a bit like crossing over a threshold to the other side. The air is damp, earthy and close. Sound is muted by the soft ground and woody walls of the tree. Are you now in the underworld? If you gaze up into the dark core of the tree, it’s like peering into its very soul.
Go visit them, you’re sure to get the tingles.
3. Witchy trees with a message from the future
The haunting form of the Miena cider gum (Eucalyptus gunnii divaricata) looks as though it’s from a book of spells as its branches twist and turn in all directions. Miena dieback looks even more scary and, to be honest, if you want to be truly spooked for Halloween this year, nothing is more terrifying than the dual climate and biodiversity crises impacting our landscapes.
The Miena cider gum is endemic to Tasmania and is one of the most cold-tolerant eucalypts. But as the climate heats populations are dramatically declining. Listed as endangered, the story this gum tells of the warming climate and its impact on our trees is enough to send a chill down your spine.
4. Zombie eucalypts
We have all seen those blackened trunks rising out of charred earth in the aftermath of a bushfire and wondered: will they return from the dead?
Contrary to popular belief, not all eucalypts can survive bushfires. Ninety per cent can resprout. Resprouting eucalypts reshoot green leaves, some from a lignotuber (a woody swelling at or just under the ground), a few from the stem, but many from both. Unlike spotting a zombie, seeing the new green shoots springing forth from ashen bark is a welcome return from the other side.
5. The ghoulish hands of the warty yate
Finally, I asked Dr Dean Nicolle, a scientist and eucalypt expert who has planted every species of eucalypt at his Currency Creek Arboretum in South Australia, which eucalypt spooked him the most.
Dean suggested the warty yate (Eucalyptus megacornuta). Knobbly, warty and full of character, the flower buds of this tree look like drawings of ghoulish hands from a book by the Brothers Grimm. The long, finger-shaped parts are the bud caps, called the opercula. I’ve included Dean’s photo here instead of a drawing, otherwise you might not believe it was real.
Happy Halloween, here’s wishing you a spooky eucy season!
