Eucalyptus cladocalyx
Location: 1st hole, 50 metres from the tee on the left
| Other locations on course: | 9th hole, 30 metres short of the green on the right. |
| Origin & distribution: | Sugar Gums are endemic to South Australia where they occur in the southern Flinders Ranges, Kangaroo Island and the Eyre Peninsular. There are many of these trees seen in the streetscape around Perth. |
| Height: | to 35 metres. |
| Uses: | Ornamental tree. |
Immortalised by the painter Hans Heysen, with, for example, his painting “Droving into the light” which is in the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
They are popular as windbreaks and shelters and can be seen surrounding wheat fields in the southern states of Australia. Their trunks are smooth and mottled with patches of off-white, yellow or bluish-grey. The bark has long linear fissures.
Old sugar gums are known for their hollows and holes; ideal nesting sites for the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo and the kookaburra.
It has excellent tolerance to drought and exposure, and since the expansion of farming into the more arid regions of south-eastern Australia, has proven to be a suitable species for shelter, firewood, posts and poles. Traditionally, the timber was utilised for spears and clubs by aboriginal people, whilst burls were made into Tarnaks (bowls).
There is a dwarf bushy variant ‘nana’ which is seen on the right side of the 9th and 16th fairways.
(Source: Wikipedia; Dept. of Primary Industries Victoria; Richard Allen and Kimball Baker)
“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a tree, one needs only a shovel” (Aldo Leopold).