We chat with Andrew Darby author of The Ancients.
A&U: Can you tell us a bit about your latest book, The Ancients?
AD: The Ancients discovers global tree riches hidden in wild Tasmania, where they survive against the odds of destruction by fire.
A&U: Can you share a bit about the initial inspiration behind writing this book?
AD: I was alarmed by the new climate change-induced phenomenon of the dry thunderstorm, which brings lightning but no rain, and lights up multiple bushfires in one event across whole landscapes in Tasmania. These fires take hold in wild, difficult country, the home of these venerable trees.
A&U: Can you tell us how we come to have the oldest living tree in the world here, in our very own country?
AD: Among these trees is a small, grevillea-like tree called King’s Lomatia which grows in only one location in Tasmania’s far South West. Over decades of work, scientists have found that it is just one individual tree, which as a triploid clone can never set seed. Yet nearby a fossil of King’s Lomatia has been found, and dated around 43,000 years old. So this single, sterile tree has been slowly reproducing itself by root runners for at least that length of time, in the face of repeated fire threats over millenia. That is a story of survival against the odds.
A&U: What was the most challenging part of writing The Ancients for you? Was it the research, the storytelling elements, or something else?
AD: The challenge was to get out there - to be among these extraordinary, globally special trees, most of which only grow in remote locations. The island’s bushwalking is notoriously difficult, with impenetrable growth, rivers and bogs, high alpine climbs, rain and snow. My greatest challenge was to get out there to see these trees in their homes, and in my 70th year.
A&U: Were there any surprising or unexpected discoveries you made while working on this book?
AD: The exceptional beauty and power of these trees. The mossed-over trunk of a King Billy Pine, a species unchanged since it stood with dinosaurs. The evocative twists and turns of thousand-year-old Pencil Pine as it bends to alpine rock and snow. The persistence of the “water tree”, the prized Huon Pine. The scale of a ramrod-straight Giant Ash eucalypt, which at around 100 metres high is the tallest flowering plant in the world. The quiet of a “mother” tree Myrtle Beech forest, and the golden carpet of Australia’s only endemic winter-deciduous tree, the Fagus.
A&U: If readers could take away just one key message from reading The Ancients, what would you hope it to be?
AD: Recognise these trees for their extraordinary worth, and ensure their safety. Even as I complete this Q&A, more landscape-scale bushfires lit by a dry lightning event are menacing some of these trees: Pencil Pine near Cradle Mountain and Huon Pine in the island’s takayana/Tarkine region. To meet rapid climate change and retain such treasures, we need to use our own ingenuity, and understand how to manage fire.
The Ancients
by Andrew Darby
Andrew Darby goes on a journey to find the world's oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania.
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