Fears unfounded over Greytown gum

INSPECTING: Arborist Matthew Henderson inspects the historic gum tree at St Luke's Church. PHOTOS/LYNDA FERINGA.

The historic Samuel Oates gum tree is in good shape, according to arborists giving it a check up yesterday.

The massive Eucalyptus regnans tree, standing in the grounds of St Luke's Church in Greytown, withstood a storm last year but church members raised concerns over its safety.

There was also an incident four years ago when one of its branches fell onto the main street just before it was about to be pruned.

Arborist Ed Martin, from Ed's Arborist Services, said people had been walking by, stopping to ask if the tree was coming down but this was not the case.

"It's really healthy.

"The trunk at the bottom looks pretty sound, there's nothing to indicate disease, no dieback."

Having checked over half way up the tree, Mr Martin said he didn't think they would find any problems.

"Nothing is guaranteed but I don't see anything that would warrant anything drastic."

He said while its large branches may look like they need pruning, they helped the whole tree withstand strong forces such as wind.

"As the tree moves, that movement gets traversed to the branches."

Mr Martin said obviously if the tree posed a risk to the public it would be remiss not do to something but at this stage the best thing to do was to leave the tree as it is.

The giant gum was famously planted as a sapling after being stolen from the wheelbarrow of Samuel Oates in the 1850s and has grown to almost 40m high.

Mr Martin said it was one of the biggest trees he's inspected, not just in terms of height but girth.

"There's lots of eucalypti around but nothing like this."

Birds seemed to find the tree safe, as he had noticed birds' nests, including the surprise find of a hawk's nest, while inspecting the tree.