Bligh; profligate spending on Ugly Memorial.

The "Tree of Knowledge" in Barcaldine, a 200 year old ghost gum before vandals poisoned it.

An article in today’s “Courier Mail” gives the lie to the claims of the Premier Anna Bligh, to be the best person to ‘lead us out of the economic crisis’ to whatever she has in mind.

On the day Premier Anna Bligh bungled the costing of her first major campaign announcement, The Courier-Mail can reveal the Government lost almost $12 million trying to propagate the rare wollemi pine. 



The much-vaunted scheme, which the Government had predicted would reap sales of up to $21 million annually, was quietly wound up last year after poor sales forced the cancellation of the world exclusive contract nine years early.

Meanwhile, controversy builds in Barcaldine, in central Queensland, over the size and shape of the state-backed memorial to the Tree of Knowledge.

Locals have nicknamed the $8 million, 18m structure "Barky's box" and "the gallows" as they grapple with the size and meaning of the monument.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, quite a few country towns have a “Tree of Knowledge,” which is a shady tree in a convenient spot where the older guys gather and share recollections, hence the name. The one in Barcaldine is special though, as in the 1890s striking shearers gathered under it for a meeting, which is considered to be the first step in the formation of the Labor Party. Vandals poisoned the tree in 2006 and it was unable to be saved.

The main St. of the town giving an idea of the character of the place.

Quite reasonably, it was decided to do something to memorialise the tree. Of course in a place like Barcaldine, which like most outback towns has its own special character, it would be reasonable to expect that a memorial would be tasteful and in character with the town. 

A new tree; perhaps one of the cuttings propagated from the original with some sort of symbolic column or such like, with a plaque commemorating the tree and its history might be appropriate? Possibility the original could have been left in place with the dead limbs removed for safety, as a focal point until the new tree could take over?

Unfortunately this is where the government got involved with the following result. The structure is a towering cube in which 4000 suspended timbers of various lengths form the canopy of the Tree of Knowledge, the trunk and limbs of which have been preserved in Brisbane.

The "Tree of Knowledge" memorial. (Photo Courtesy, "The Courier Mail.)

Apart from the preserved remains of the tree being inside, along with the 4,000 suspended bits of wood, it is difficult to imagine what such a structure has to do with trees.

Perhaps it signifies the socialist aspect of the Labor Party, or maybe their love of central planning.