Loving the Warburton ElderTree

I have just discovered that the beautiful old manna gum next to the hardware in my village of Warburton is due to be cut down because of structural problems and danger of falling on cars parked in the car park. It is the most significant pre-invasion tree in the village in terms of size and visibility. I’m pretty devastated — as are many.

There’s confusion over whether it can be saved or not. I don’t know what our chances of saving the tree are but I do want to give the tree a proper loving up. I’ve bought 12 m of golden fabric to wrap the tree as they do to the sacred trees in Thailand. I’ve also bought beautifully shaped coloured paper and pegs and textas for messages of love and appreciation for the tree. The plan is a ritual for the tree at around 3:30 PM today (Monday) when the school buses disembark there, continuing on into the after work hours. I’ll leave the cloth up and people can come at any time with their own paper and pens and pin a message to it. Hopefully the cloth will stay there over this next week or so, so come when you can with your offering.