A towering yellow box widely referred to as Djab Wurrung’s’ tree of directions’ has been cut and removed from the site of the $ 157 million highway duplication controversy between Buangor and Ararat, northwest of Melbourne
The yellow boxwood, widely known as the branch tree, which was felled on Monday Credit: Justin McManus
The man from Djab Wurrung Zellanach Djab Mara, who has protested against the destruction of trees at the duplication site for several years, said he was « devastated and shocked » to see him cut down
M Djab Mara said that the tree came from a time when every Djab Wurrung child had their own tree; the child’s placenta was mixed with the seed of the tree and from that moment the tree became the child’s own « tree of direction »
« It was a very spiritual, very moving and powerful tree, » he said « The Australian government had no consent or jurisdiction to remove this tree »
Protecting culturally important trees at the site has been the goal of hundreds of supporters at the Djab Wurrung embassy since mid-2018, prompting police to execute eviction orders on several occasions Contractors began cutting down a number of trees last week as protesters were forced to stay at home under Fourth Stage lockdown restrictions
The controversial highway project has also sparked a lengthy legal battle Earlier this month, the Djab Wurrung filed a lawsuit against Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley for the third time and called for the work stoppage until the problem is resolved
Last year, the Andrews government agreed to redesign the road to spare a number of the 22 trees identified as culturally significant by the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation, including two « birth trees »
Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation director Jason Mifsud said the company has fought hard to protect culturally significant trees
« We have carried out an exhaustive process and we have publicly stated that the trees that should be saved are being saved, » said M Mifsud « These are 13 trees of tangible and intangible cultural heritage that we have tried to save »
In a statement, Major Road Projects Victoria called the felled tree a ‘fiddle tree’, rather than the directions tree, saying it had not been identified as culturally significant by the indigenous side registered [the Maar of the East], and had been assessed by arborists as unlikely to precede European colonization
They said another tree at the northern end of the site was actually an orientation tree and would not be felled
But that assessment was strongly contested by protesters and landowners on the ground, who said the tree felled on Monday was widely referred to as the directions tree.
In December of last year, Federal Court Judge Justice Alan Robertson rejected Ms Ley’s earlier endorsement, arguing that the Minister had erred in law in applying the Protection Act of the heritage of the aborigines and the islanders of the Torres Strait at the request of protection of Djab Wurrung
Ms Ley was forced to reconsider her decision and, in August, gave the project another approval – a decision Djab Wurrung is challenging in court, with hearings scheduled for December
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Djab Wurrung
World News – UA – « Devastated »: Anger after the felling of a « culturally significant » tree at the highway site
