Barcaldine is an unlikely home to one of Australia’s most famous trees. The outback town is in the dead heart of red dirt country, on the land of the Iningai traditional owners – more than 520km inland from Rockhampton and some 400 km north of Charleville.
Barcaldine, however, has well and truly earned its nickname: Garden City of the West. It's a love literally built into “Barcy”, with every leaf-lined street in town named after a different tree.
Amid the town’s verdant surroundings and colourful blooms, the most famous tree of all is a dead stump – a heritage listed ghost gum on Oak Street. The famous Tree of Knowledge, Barcaldine.
Barcaldine's Tree of Knowledge Memorial (Jon Linkins Photographer).
Hallelujahs and Manifestos: a Tree of Knowledge History
The Tree of Knowledge grew strong and proud at the gates of the Barcaldine railway station on Oak Street. In the 1880s it was known as the Hallelujah Tree, drawing its name from the local Salvation Army band who would gather beneath it.
Salvation Army members holding brass instruments, and standing beside the Salvation Army barracks in Oak Street, Barcaldine, 1897.
The area beneath the tree became another important meeting place soon after: for workers during the 1891 Shearers’ Strike. On 1 May that year, Barcaldine held one of the world’s first May Day marches, with thousands of striking shearers protesting against poor working conditions, marching under the "Eureka" flag. When the strike was defeated, workers continued to meet, organise and rally with other unionists under the tree.
Strikers' Library at Barcaldine during the 1891 Shearers' Strike.
According to folklore, it was also under the Tree of Knowledge that the birth of the Labour Movement and the Australian Labor Party took place. Today it is considered an icon of the Labor party.
On 9 September 1892 the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party was read aloud for the first time. The Manifesto – today held in State Library of Queensland collections – is one of the formative documents of the present-day Australian Labor Party.
'Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party', from Charles Seymour Papers 1880-1924, Charles Seymour, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
The death of the Tree of Knowledge
In April 2006, the tree was found to have been poisoned by a significant amount of herbicide which had been poured over its base. Who did it and why remains a great Queensland mystery. By October, the tree was officially dead. Its legend, however, was able to live on.
Several cuttings taken from the tree before its poisoning were lovingly nurtured, and in 2008 the tree was successfully cloned. Several of these cuttings are now growing around Barcaldine. A robust clone of the tree is even planted at Brisbane’s Ecosciences Precinct.
Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine, 1991.
A new life
On 1 May Day 2009, the Tree of Knowledge Memorial was unveiled on Oak Street. The trunk of the original tree had been preserved, transformed into a natural artwork resembling carved marble. Its leaves – and its life – were now represented by a unique casing that includes more than 3600 suspended timber pieces.
Designed and produced by Brian Hooper Architect with m3architecture in collaboration, the structure not only moves in the breeze, but also lights up at night.
Barcaldine's Tree of Knowledge Memorial (courtesy Barcaldine Regional Council).
Today, the Tree of Knowledge is listed on the State Heritage Register, and is one of Australia’s National Heritage List Icons, alongside treasures like the Great Barrier Reef.
Barcaldine is clearly proud of its custodianship of the Tree of Knowledge and has taken great care to preserve and commemorate the heritage and spirit it represents.
From its Australian Heritage Workers Centre and Great Shearers’ Strike Memorial through to the town's annual Tree of Knowledge Festival and May Day Parade, Barcaldine makes sure its unique place in history remains forever preserved.
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