REPRIEVE FOR YARRA PARK ELMS THREATENED WITH BLUE PAINT
Melburnians
breathed a collective sigh of relief when, last week, Melbourne Councillors
moved an eleventh hour resolution at their Council meeting to block the
so-called “art” project involving painting 45 elms in an avenue in Yarra Park
electric blue and the painting of 5 plane trees outside the Arts Centre in St
Kilda Road bright red. The City
Council’s motion, carried by a clear majority, was to “advise the State Government, the Applicant …(i.e. the artist)
and the Minister for the Arts Mary Delahunty, that it does not approve of the
use of Melbourne’s Elms or Plane Trees by painting of the trees”. We gather
that, in view of Council opposition, the Minister has now revoked her approval
for this project and that it will not proceed.
The “blue elms affair” dominated the airwaves and the print media all last week. The public expressed outrage that a magnificent avenue of elms was at risk of being vandalised and a heritage park despoiled; that the Minster for the Arts could make a grant of $96,000 for such an absurd “public art” project; and that the exercise, if allowed to proceed, would encourage “copy cat” graffiti artists and put other trees in our parks at risk. People were disturbed about the artist’s rationale for the project - he claimed that his blue elm project, “Sacred Grove”, was meant to draw the world’s attention to the destruction of rainforests. Also disconcerting was that Minister Delahunty billed it as a cultural event for the Commonwealth Games. The Friends of the Elms group remained mute over the affair thus indicating, in our view, that they are no friends of Melbourne’s elms.
Julianne Bell of Protectors of Public Lands Victoria commented: “Our coalition of groups was worried over the precedent set here - the project had been approved and progressed apparently in secret. No application for a planning permit had been made, even though Yarra Park has a heritage overlay. Our chief concern was, however, the threat to one of the finest avenues of Melbourne’s elms, a very precious resource in the world given the huge numbers of elms in the UK and USA lost with the ravages of Dutch Elm Beetle. In view of the reported support of some Melbourne Council arborists and senior staff for the project, one of our PPL VIC members got in touch with elm experts across the UK, including the Head of Kew Gardens arboretum in London and the Head of Biodiversity at the National History Museum in London. We were very grateful for their advice, which was – put simply - that application of paint would affect the ability of the tree to “breathe” through its lenticels; would risk destruction of any epiphytes such as lichens and mosses growing on the elm; and would risk destroying habitat of wild life associated with the trees. We understand that Dr Greg Moore, Director of Burnley Horticultural College in Melbourne, agrees with these sentiments.
The Editor of a
UK online Science Journal offered these thoughts: “ …I must say
it is a very bizarre thing to do (i.e. paint elms.) To my mind it doesn’t send
out the right message at all about these magnificent trees. It gives the
message that somehow it is acceptable to tart them up in clowns’
costumes. Personally, I think it is disrespectful, and somewhat
abusive. And at the very least it sends
out the message that anything goes as far as trees are concerned.”
The Protectors of Public Lands Victoria regarded these threats to the trees in Yarra Park and St Kilda Road so seriously that legal advice was sought on action to stop the project proceeding. Fortunately, PPL VIC did not have to act but it was a close call. Accordingly, the protest planned for last Sunday in Yarra Park was called off. Following this sorry saga Melburnians must all remain “alert and alarmed” (to use our Prime Minister’s words) over State Government threats to damage our parks.
Contact:
Julianne Bell Secretary PPL VIC 98184114 or 0408022408 Email jbell5@bigpond.com