Huon and Arve areas: Important Bushfire information:
This area was heavily impacted by the Riveaux Road Bushfire in January / February 2019 and as a consequence, many of the trees listed here have succumbed to the fire (this will be indicated in the text). Be aware that the potential hazards from falling branches and collapsing trees are substantial and conditions will remain dangerous for some time.
Above: the burnt out base of Bigfoot - this tree is dead and will likely collapse in the near future.
Above: Surrounded by bushfire scarred forest, a small patch of old growth trees miraculously escaped the flames - in this area we discovered Walled Bennetts - 18m girth and 70m tall - deep in the rainforest.
The Phoenix, a few hundred meters off Bennetts rd survived the flames - it is 17.3m girth and 71m tall
'Earl Grey Bennetts' survived the flames. It is 18.3m girth and 72m to its broken top. note the re-sprouting tree ferns giving life to the blackened scene. Ferns are often the first plants to bounce back from bushfire.
| table_of_burnt_trees_1.pdf |
Killed by the 2019 fires, 'Bigfoot' was over 20m in girth and 82m to the top of its broken and decayed top. Its trunk did not drop below 2m in diameter until after 40m in height. It remained undiscovered until 2003 despite being only 100m from the busiest forestry road in Tasmania.
Killed by the 2019 fires, 'Papa Zig' was 87m tall and 17m in girth. It was a stunning tree with a perfectly straight trunk, free of branches for about 65m on the southern side (see below) As the top of this tree was broken it is estimated that it was at least in the mid 90m range in its prime
Impacted by the 2019 fires but still standing and still mostly intact, 'Centurion' is easily Australia's tallest known tree. It was as discovered by a Forestry Tasmania LiDAR flight in 2008, uncovering a small patch of very old forest in an area that had quite a lot of fire and logging disturbance. Initially measured in 2008 at 99.6m, it was re-measured in 2014 and it had grown over 20cm to be 99.82m tall. However, a further tape drop in 2016 gave a figure of 99.67m, indicating that growth may have been negligible in the past 10 years. However, since the burn in 2019, centuries of 'duff' was burnt away from its base, lowering the ground level and it would appear now to be over 100m tall. Interestingly, it's trunk is broken at over 80m up and the current crown has regrown from the break - this indicates that the tree may have been considerably taller in the past.
Looking down the trunk of 'Centurion'.
Above two images: 'The Shield Maiden' 87m tall 17m girth - off Arve Loop road - this tree miraculously remained unscarred by the fires which got to within 50m of it on two fronts.
'Master Bennetts' was found in 2007 during a survey of the old growth off Bennetts road. It is 18m girth and 81m tall. At the time of its discovery, it had recently been impacted by a spot fire from an escaped regeneration burn. The fires had only burnt around the big old eucalypts and not escaped into the rainforest nearby. It was also burnt by the 2019 fires but somehow is still alive!
Killed in the 2019 fires, Swirly Burly Megs was almost 19m in girth. It was only discovered in January 2013 off Barnback Road, west of Judbury. The presence of thin, pole stage regrowth Eucalyptus regnans around the tree, indicate that there was an fire in the area about 25-30 years ago. The photo of its huge bole below gives a fair indication of where the tree got part of its name!
