Goongerah Green Left Online Edition

Masthead

Goongerah Green Left Online Edition

Catchment

• Location: Goongerah
• Nation: Errinundera

Archives

A GIANT FALLS

The long awaited end of MONDA, Rodger River's beloved sacred tree, has finally taken place. Early yesterday morning, imbert, senior arborist from the Sacred Tree Registry, announced that the tree would fall that day. “The weather bureau has forecast moderate winds. Our arboreismic devices indicate that the tree will come down when the wind speed reaches 8 km/h. The expected wind direction is from the south west so, given the structure of the tree, we predict that it will fall / collapse in a south easterly direction.”

Our person on the sport reports:

“With crowds now estimated at 250,000, imbert and his assistants mark out the impact spot and cordon off the danger area. Anticipation grows as giant screens display the steadily increasing wind speed along with the tree movements provided by the arboreismic meters.

“At 11:11 in the morning the wind speed reaches 8.2 km/hr and the tree begins to shudder. What appears to be dust is emitted from the trunk. Then, the upper section slides, slowly at first, then with gathering speed, into the base. There is a huge CRACK! – the upper section topples exactly in the direction predicted and the base disintegrates, sending spongy, rotten timber in all directions. The falling portion of trunk breaks up on impact and, after the dust settles and the last wooden projectiles fall to earth, there is only a pile of rubble where once a proud giant stood. A brief silence gives way to a spontaneous roar of approval and devotion from the quarter of a million people who witness this awesome event.”