Tree of Knowledge

The preserved remains of a ghost gum in the main street of the Queensland Outback town of Barcaldine mark the spot where arguably the Australian Labor Party was born. It was the rallying place for sheep shearers striking against the pastoralists in 1891 over, in part, the use of non-union workers. The shearers were unable to hold out, and 13 union leaders were convicted of sedition and conspiracy and sentenced to three years' jail. But workplace relations and the political landscape would never be the same again. Australia had changed.

The Tree of Knowledge was included in the National Heritage List on January 26 (Australia Day), 2006. In an act of vandalism, it was poisoned later that year and did not recover. The Labor Party offered a reward of $10,000 for any information that would help identify those responsible; it remains unclaimed. Some cuttings propagated from the tree before its death are now growing in Barcaldine, and one in the National Arboretum in Canberra. The remains of the original tree in Barcaldine, centerpiece of a new memorial officially opened in 2009, sit under a beautifully designed protective canopy. Next to it stands a monument, in the shape of 19th-century wool shears, in honour of the jailed strike leaders - a number of whom went on to become significant political figures.

The name Barcaldine, by the way, originates from the Oban area in Scotland. Donald Charles Cameron was one of the first settlers in the district and a direct descendant of the Campbells of Barcaldine Castle. He named his property Barcaldine Downs, and the township of Barcaldine sprang up later with the arrival of the railway.