Qualla: Tree of Knowledge https://qualla.com/tree-of-knowledge-australia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/5/z/6/tree-of-knowledge-australia-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Tree of Knowledge https://qualla.com/tree-of-knowledge-australia Tree of Knowledge: Introduction https://qualla.com/tree-of-knowledge-australia/ Photo credit Camerong, CC BY-SA 3.0. Someone killed it with weedkiller. In 2006 a heritage-listed ghost gum that had stood for some two centuries outside the Barcaldine railway station was poisoned with glyphosate, the active ingredient in common herbicide, and slowly died. No one was ever charged. The motive was never established. It remains one of the strangest acts of vandalism in Australian history, because this was not just any tree. Under its canopy the striking shearers of 1891 had gathered, and the tree had become a living symbol of the birth of the Australian labour movement, an icon of the Labor Party known across the country simply as the Tree of Knowledge.

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Image: Camerong | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/5/z/6/tree-of-knowledge-australia-wp/r5z6-tree-of-knowledge-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Tree of Knowledge: The Tree They Met Beneath https://qualla.com/tree-of-knowledge-australia/ Photo credit Sue mcarthur, CC BY-SA 4.0. It was a Corymbia aparrerinja, a ghost gum, with the pale smooth bark that gives the species its name, growing in the main street where the railway line ended. During the Great Shearers' Strike of 1891 the bush workers who had made Barcaldine their headquarters met in its shade, ...

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Image: Sue mcarthur | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/5/z/6/tree-of-knowledge-australia-wp/r5z6-tree-of-knowledge-the-tree-they-met-beneath.mp3 0:06 2 full Tree of Knowledge: A Slow Decline https://qualla.com/tree-of-knowledge-australia/ Photo credit Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0. Even before the poisoning, the old gum was struggling. In 1990 it was found to be riddled with termites and other insects and in serious decline. A tree surgeon was called in, pest control applied, and the root system flushed with thousands of litres of water; by late 1993 the tr...

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Image: Mark Marathon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/5/z/6/tree-of-knowledge-australia-wp/r5z6-tree-of-knowledge-a-slow-decline.mp3 0:06 3 full Tree of Knowledge: What They Built Around the Stump https://qualla.com/tree-of-knowledge-australia/ Photo credit Katerode, CC BY-SA 4.0. Rather than clear the dead tree away, Barcaldine chose to enshrine it. The remaining trunk and root ball were preserved in place, and in 2009 a striking memorial rose over them at a cost of around five million dollars. Designed by Brian Hooper Architect with m3architecture, it is...

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Image: Katerode | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/5/z/6/tree-of-knowledge-australia-wp/r5z6-tree-of-knowledge-what-they-built-around-the-stump.mp3 0:06 4 full Tree of Knowledge: A Symbol That Outlived the Symbol https://qualla.com/tree-of-knowledge-australia/ Photo credit Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0. A plaque at the foot of the memorial reads that it commemorates "the loyalty, courage, and sacrifice in 1891 of the stalwart men and women of the west from whom, beneath this tree, emerged Australia's labour and political movement." The wording is deliberate, the women named alon...

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Image: Mark Marathon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/5/z/6/tree-of-knowledge-australia-wp/r5z6-tree-of-knowledge-a-symbol-that-outlived-the-symbol.mp3 0:06 5 full