There is growing concern about the condition of a popular Moreton Bay Fig at Nelly Bay on Magnetic Island . For most of this year, the tree , photographed many times by visitors to the island, has been looking under stress. A concerned nearby resident has started running water in hoses to the base of the tree and notified the Townsville City Council of the situation . There is a feeling that because it has been a dry year underground streams which feed or flow near the fig have dried up . Evidence of this theory is the observation that when the tide is out , water normally seen flowing from the foreshore near the tree is not visible .
Not so very long ago a fig tree on the island in a prominent place got the chop, the council claiming it had a disease of some kind. This latest situation raises questions about the overall threat to the island's other fig trees.
Meanwhile , in Darwin , the Milkwood tree in the CBD which survived Cyclone Tracy and was designated a special tree has been confirmed as dead .No explanation has been given as how this was allowed to happen . A few puff pars in a giveaway newspaper surmised there may have been a problem getting water to the tree . How this could happen when the Darwin City Council has parks and gardens staff is hard to understand . The person responsible for getting the tree listed as significant , agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith, would like the media to do a proper investigation .
