Terry Willis, Harcourt North
The Inquiry into the 2026 summer fires across Victoria came to Harcourt on April 30. It was a triggering day for many of us. What struck me was the lack of acknowledgement at the loss of biodiversity and old growth trees from the fire and the clean up.
I spoke in the open mic section and chose to highlight that nature’s community houses were lost as well.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to honour the life of a tree lost on our property – a very, very old Grey Box scar tree. Most of its crown had been lost over time, but its hollow limbs still reached for the stars high above us. Our family was the last of many, many families that thought of this tree as precious – families both human and animal.
And then the fire happened. The CFA came at least five times to douse water on the smouldering stump over a period of two weeks after that first terrible day. Its root system stretched deep into the earth. The burnt base of the tree’s outer layer is all that remains, reaching like a blackened twisting claw out of the charcoal, in a haunting tribute to its former glory.
This was a tree that had witnessed over 400 years on Dja Dja Wurrung country.
A tree so wide at its base that our family of four could not hug it together.
A tree so loved that every new person to visit us would be proudly shown the scar tree.
A tree that survived an attempted ring barking, who knows how many years ago.
A tree that life centred around, providing a community house in the landscape.
A tree that sheltered possums, phascogales, Krefft’s gliders, bees, antechinus, cockatoos and galahs from the harsh conditions outside.
A tree that was a nursery for these creatures to raise their young.
A tree that nourished and provided food.
A tree that held soil together on the slopes of Leanganook.
A tree that gave life and hope.
Who knows how many more years it could have lived for? We don’t know.
This tree was one of many old habitat trees that were lost in the Harcourt fire. It’s a tragedy. You can’t rebuild this tree – it’s lost forever. No amount of nesting boxes will replace the homes it once provided.
It feels like an injustice that this has happened and fills us with deep remorse and grief”.