IMAGES: JUSTIN MENEGUZZI
AUSTRALIA
eyewitness SEARCHING FOR KING BILLY
Shrouded in Tasmania’s rainforests around Cradle Mountain, the rare King Billy pine tree is a living remnant of our planet’s primordial past — and travellers can take kayaks out with local experts to find them
Moving rhythmically, almost without thought, I dip my oar in and out of Dove Lake, water trickling in its wake. Up ahead, the autumnal slopes of Cradle Mountain are ablaze with colour in the early light, its jagged peaks piercing a cloudy sky that’s just waking up to the day. Despite the picturesque scene unfolding in front of me, I’m too preoccupied to soak in the view because I’m scanning the rocky shoreline for clues. Anthony O’Hern’s words run through my head: ‘If you want to find King Billy, look to the ground.’ I’ve joined Anthony, who runs adventure company Cradle
Mountain Canyons, on a kayaking quest in search of alpine royalty. King Billy pine trees are a living relic of Gondwana, the ancient supercontinent that eventually broke up into Africa, South America and Australia some 180 million years ago. I’m here because the conifer species, which is exceptionally long-lived and slow growing, is found only in Tasmania’s high country. Even here, it can be hard to find. After Europeans colonised Tasmania in 1803, King
Clockwise from top left: Anthony O’Hern surveys the water as Cradle Mountain looms ahead; branches of a hybrid of the King Billy and pencil pine tree that’s yet to be given a name by scientists; the wide trunk of a King Billy pine tree; a pair of pademelons near Pencil Pines Cascades in Cradle Mountain National Park
Billy timber was highly prized thanks to its light weight and durability, which made it ideal for woodworking and especially ship building. A combination of logging, mining and fires saw the population of the trees dwindle dramatically, with an estimated 40% lost over 200 years. To stem the tide, the Australian government granted the species protected status in 1999, which made logging of the trees illegal. Today, clusters of the ancient pine trees, distant relatives
of the towering Californian redwood, persist in parts of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area. The 6,100sq- mile reserve includes Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, an alpine wonderland of ancient rainforests,
glacial valleys and craggy peaks two hours from the city of Launceston. The oldest specimens here would have been mere saplings when Rome was sacked some 1,600 years ago. Most of their whereabouts are kept secret by the park’s rangers, but younger trees can be found around Dove Lake — if you know how to spot them. After a chilly start, the blazing sun has burned away
the clouds and conditions on the water are perfect for paddling. Sporting a bright yellow safety vest and a wavy shag of brown hair that shields his eyes against the morning light, Anthony leads our small group past a historic boat shed, explaining how panels of the King Billy timber used to construct the weathered building are regularly stolen by visitors wanting to take home an exclusive cheeseboard. We point our bows east and are soon skirting shallow rocky banks where beech (Fagus) trees, Australia’s only native deciduous species, are beginning to blush crimson and gold, creating a stunning but short-lived bloom that draws crowds each April. The kayak slices gracefully through the water — it seems
lighter than the fibreglass kayaks I’ve handled before, and Anthony tells me they’re not made from fibreglass at all. As we paddle past clusters of verdant myrtle and pencil pine trees, he reveals he personally handmade our crafts with wood from “the last King Billy in captivity”. When a bushfire tore through the Raglan Range just
outside the national park’s western borders in the late 1960s, the sawmilling Bradshaw family salvaged burned King Billy pine trees. Even though the trees were dead, much of their timber was untouched by the flames and still in good condition. Knowing they sat on the last legal stockpile of this rare and precious material, the family
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