Camperdown and Corangamite Shire residents from the Western District of Victoria plus Protectors of Public Lands Victoria Inc. (PPL VIC) have been celebrating following news that the Shire Council reversed its plans to axe the two-kilometre-long avenue of heritage-listed elms through Camperdown’s town centre. (Already Council had sanctioned removal and “replacement” of 74 of the 500 or so magnificent hundred-year-old English Elms and the replanting with elm saplings.) At last Tuesday’s meeting, Council resolved the following: “In recognition of the lack of current community support for the works that the implementation of the elm tree replacement program be deferred and that the need to implement the Strategy be re-visited on a five year cycle.” Note that the community had requested a fifteen-year moratorium on removing elms on the advice of expert arborist, Rob Galbraith of Galbraith and Associates, but welcomes the five-year reprieve given by Council.
Bouquets go to The Friends of Camperdown Elms (FOCE) who have campaigned tirelessly and have attracted support right across Victoria to stop destruction of the elm avenue, which is valued as a great ornament to the town and is considered to be of immense social, historical and environmental value to Victoria. It is possibly the finest elm avenue in the world given that the Dutch Beetle has destroyed huge numbers of elms in the UK and USA and Melbourne’s elms are in a parlous state with the drought. Brickbats go, however, to Heritage Victoria and the so-called “Friends of the Elms” a Melbourne group – both of whom recommended to Council that the avenue of elms be removed, albeit in a series of “blocks” over a period of time.
On Tuesday last, FOCE held an inspiring rally of townsfolk, including many young people, under the elms in the heritage precinct of the town in which is located the war memorial and the landmark Manifold Clock Tower. Attached is a sample photo of elms previously earmarked for the chop and shows the saplings planted where trees have been removed. A number of FOCE, PPL VIC and community members spoke at the afternoon’s Council meeting in spirited defence of retaining the elm avenue.
The FOCE had commissioned Mr Rob Galbraith, a leading arborist, who wrote a seminal report, released in April this year, on the heritage value and condition of Camperdown’s elm avenue. He then wrote an addendum to the report for Tuesday’s Council meeting again recommending retention of the elm avenue. He eloquently sums up community sentiment in his conclusion when he says: “The magnificent amenity and historical significance provided by the avenue, a phenomenon put into place by the foresight of Camperdown’s early settlers and nurtured by later generations, will soon be rapidly destroyed by the ‘block removal’ policy over 16 years. The replacement elms will not achieve a comparable amenity to the existing for at least 50 years. In my opinion, if the existing elms are…retained, then at least a 15-year moratorium on tree removal should be implemented. Integral with this must be proper maintenance of the existing trees along with the establishment and appropriate maintenance of new trees in the gaps.” Mr Galbraith welcomes the Council decision to desist from further removals of the elm trees. A portfolio of photos of the Camperdown Elm Avenue can be provided on request.
The saga of the Camperdown elms teaches us that eternal vigilance is the price of protection of our environment.
Media Contact: Julianne Bell PPL VIC Secretary 0408022408 or 98184114 Email jbell5@bigpond.com