Giant Boab Tree Heads South

boab.jpgHave you heard that the plan to move an ancient boab tree to Perth has run into a few problems?

The tree apparently weighs almost three times as much as first thought. The bottle-shaped boab tree is being removed and transplanted 3 200 km from Warmun, in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, to Kings Park in the heart of Western Australia’s capital.

The 750 year old tree was estimated to weigh 14 tonnes. Instead, it was found to weigh a massive 37.2 tonnes. The project team has now found a bigger truck – a much bigger truck. The tree should arrive in Perth this weekend.

The tree is being moved due to roadworks in the area and it’s the first time that such a mature tree has been transported over such a distance.

Digging up the tree proved much harder than predicted too as it was embedded in granite rock, making removal extremely difficult.

They say that the boab is expected to live at least another 750 years after its journey and transplant. That’s not a bad innings for a tree. If I can get something to live for more than a couple of months in my garden I reckon I’m doing OK.



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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15 Comments

  • 36 tonnes?!!! 750 years already? Wow!
    Everytime I see those trees I have to think of Saint Exupéry´s Le Petit Prince, I just love this book and think it´s very typical that the French call the tree Baobab instead of Boab 😉
    And this pic reminds me of some great holidays.

    Oh, boy, what great undertaking, fingers crossed they achieve their goal and the tree makes it longer than just a few month after that! 😉

  • Yes Iris, I’m hoping that it all works because I’ve never seen a boab tree up close. I’m looking forward to visiting the tree in its new home.

  • Yes, it was a massive undertaking. A couple of facts corrected – the name of the community is Warmun. Unfortunately ninemsn got that one wrong and its percolated through the reports. The tree was in fact 37.2t when we lifted it. Only just made it with the crane we had. And we had to swap trucks. But its underway now and last I heard travelling happily past Fitzroy Crossing.

    Rodney, perhaps you and anyone else who reads this wants to join us all at 3.00pm this sunday (20th) for the planting ceremony. Should be quite a sight.

    We were fortunate enough to have the women elders from the gidja people come out to the tree and perform a smoking ceremony before it departed, emparting safe travel on the tree and on the workforce comprising personnel from Maunsell Australia, BGC Contracting, Laing O’Rourke and Main Roads who are working together to undertake the much needed road immprovements in the area.

    Proud to be a part of it.

  • Jamie, so glad you dropped in. Thanks for the corrections. I’ve adjusted my post,

    It’s so good to get some first hand knowledge on this amazing venture. I talked about it on the radio today and I’ll give the planting ceremony a mention on the radio tomorrow.

    I’m not sure what we have planned for Sunday but I hope I’ll be able to be there to see the tree find its new home.

  • Wow, that is absolutely amazing. It is a gorgeous tree and I’m just shocked anyone would try to move it. But happy they are.

  • I think the tree is much more important than the roadwork plan. Oh, it’s just me. I get like this when it comes to centuries-old trees getting uprooted. I hope they’re not shortening the tree’s life with the transplanting, though.

    btw, Rodney, thanks for advertising on my site. love your blog! 🙂

  • purpledsky, thanks for dropping in. I don’t know the full details of why they couldn’t work around the tree but I suppose those planning the road need to keep driver safety in mind and I wonder if they’d already changed the route to save the most trees possible.

  • As the driver of the load from beginning (Telegraph Creek) to the end, (Kings Park, Perth) it was a great experience to be able to have carted the tree. Having met great people on the way and being able to explain some of the history of the tree due to the knowledge of the Native Aboriginals of Turkey Creek. Going through the smoking ceremony after loading the tree, one understood the meaning of what it really means to the people of the land.

    The trip from there to Perth, to see how many people stopped to take photos all the way, truck drivers and tourists was amazing. Due to the fact that in the beginning I knew nothing of the tree and was asked to bring it to Perth, which to me has been one of a life time experience and would like to thank everybody for their courtesy and nice comments.

    I would like to say thank you to the public and everyone concerned.

    Thanks from Steve.

  • Steve, thanks for giving a little bit of your story of the trip with the boab tree. I’m really looking forward to seeing the tree in King’s Park.

    With the tree being so old already and expected to live hundreds of years more, you really have had a part to play in something historic.

    Great to hear from you.

  • I am not knowledgable on the physiology of Boababs, but I hope the severing of such large roots will not compromise the re-establishment of such a fantastic specimen.

  • Hi all, fantastic story, was sad that I also couldn’t get to the ceremony. I lecture in the Diploma of Project Management and used this project as a point of discussion in my class on Monday evening.
    It opened up many ideas about how this project was actually executed and I would be interested in speaking with/receiving information on how this was achieved and what the projects priorities were in relation to either quality, time or cost. Any help in this would be extremely grateful as I will be bringing this topic up again next Monday 28 July.
    ‘Thanks in advance if you can help’

  • Great to have you drop in, Keith.

    As you probably would have read, we’ve had comments from both Jamie and Steve who were involved in the process.

    I don’t want to invade their privacy by handing out their email addresses but if you’re happy for me to pass on your details I can email them to get in touch with you.

    You can email me privately and I can email the guys a message.

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