Ghost gum fades away

Australian Labor leaders yesterday officially declared its icon - Queensland's historic Tree of Knowledge - dead.

The 200-year-old ghost gum, at Barcaldine in the state's central west, was poisoned with pesticide sometime after Labour Day on May 1.

In 1891 a group of sheep shearers gathered beneath its branches and agreed to strike against their employers.

The strike played a crucial role in the historical connection between unions and what became the Labor Party.