The Eucalyptus Tree

"Ouch!" People were dancing and singing. Children were chasing each other and shouting. Dogs were chasing the children and barking. The band was belting out one of John Phillip Sousa's marches. The cacophony vibrated in my ears. It was painful.

The park was decorated with flowers, balloons and ribbons. Why? It was the Spring Festival!

It was surprisingly hot in Johannesburg, South Africa. I ambled over to the ice cream seller for a cooling cone.

I looked up and up at an enormous tree that was sheltering a group of beer drinking revelers. The afternoon sun's rays peeked through the foliage. An aroma tickled my nostrils -- eucalyptus. Aha! It was a Eucalyptus Tree!

"Hey there! Show some consideration for this majestic monument" I called out to a couple of teenagers who were about to start hacking away at its trunk. "Why not? It's got names all over it. They've been carving names on it for decades," they retorted.

"Hmmm...I wonder how old it is?" I pondered. "How can I gauge the age of this tree Jo?" He was a good friend who knew a thing or two about trees.

"Well Tom, we need a large ball of string for a large tree. You stand still with the ball and then I will take the end of the string and walk around the tree pulling the string at chest height, taut against its trunk. I meet with you and we measure the string in yards. From the fingertips of an outstretched arm to the tip of the nose. Then we convert the yards to inches. Each inch equals one year of the tree's lifespan."

"This tree is 198 years old Jo!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Look at this" he beckoned from the other side. Carved into the trunk were the following : John Epstein loves Mary Baker September 1901.

"Wow, I wonder who they were?" "Let's find out".

The vintage newspapers at the Town Library told us . On the front page of one of them were the headlines " Announcing the engagement of John Epstein and Mary Baker ", September 1901. Their photo appeared on the page.

John was a young prospector. He was a big fellow with a quick

temper. He had a few too many drinks one afternoon and got into a brawl with Marius Marais. They tussled for a gun and John died from a bullet wound. It was an accident. Mary was pregnant.

Marius offered to marry Mary and she accepted. John's daughter was born 4 months later.

Mary named her Martha and Marius adopted her. Marius was good to Mary and they were happy. They had five more children.

The land where they were living was a huge farm. It was divided into nine portions and each received gold prospecting rights. Mary planted a Eucalyptus tree on their property. Marius discovered gold and they opened up a chain of grocery stores and prospered. They bought a mansion on a hill in the affluent part of the Town.

When Martha turned 18 years she married Ben Baker, a distant relative of Mary's. Martha excelled at making fig jam and having babies. Tragically, she died while giving birth to their ninth child.

Widower Ben married Mieta, Martha's younger sister.

The two families clashed over land ownership. It arose from bitterness over the death of John Epstein and the constant disputes about who started the fight. The feud festered. Mary managed to maintain peace among them until she got older and found it impossible to manage the hot headed young Bakers and the Marais youngsters.

The Bakers bought land from the Marais family and the Eucalyptus Tree found itself on the edge of Baker property.

It grew up in the middle of what later became the Town Park.

The dispute continued for many years. The Marais family claimed the tree was their's because Mary planted it and the Bakers claimed it was their's because it was on their land and they owned the Title Deeds.

What about the beautiful Eucalyptus Tree? Nobody cared a hoot about it. It was merely rope in a tug of war. It was abandoned and neglected. It grew tall though somewhat shabby. It struggled in the bad times and brightened up in the good times. It persevered all alone and survived by the grace of God who designed it and made it. It was a miracle.

Ben Baker's father was the Town Barber. One morning Marius Marais was having a shave when he sneezed with such force that he lurched forward before Oupa Baker could move his hand out of the way, and the cut throat razor slit his throat. He died late that night from loss of blood. 

Oupa Baker was taken into custody for murder which was amended to voluntary manslaughter, then involuntary manslaughter and finally after many months, acquitted on the grounds of insufficient evidence. It was not unusual for the wheels of justice to get clogged with arguments and red tape. During this time the feud festered fiercely between the Marais youngsters and the Baker youngsters. They resorted to violence, plundering, stealing livestock, arson, sabotage and destroying one another's crops. The Marais supporters joined in and the Baker supporters fought back. It was time to invoke the intervention of the district authorities to restore law and order to the community before the economy collapsed.

The Marais boys were incensed and one stormy night they kidnapped Oupa Baker and took him to the Eucalyptus Tree with the intention of lynching him. They hurled a length of rope over a branch. They tied the old man's hands behind his back, stood him on a table under the branch and placed the noose over his head and around his scrawny neck. His body sagged with despair and the noose tightened. The men drank and argued for about two hours. They taunted the terrified old man.

Suddenly there was a loud clap of thunder. It started to pour. The three drunken louts took shelter in a barn.

Oupa Baker struggled to maintain his balance on the wobbly table as its legs sank into the mud. "How much longer? God please help me!" He called out. A bolt of lightning shot toward him like a burning missile from the sky. It struck the tree. The branch snapped and it fell to the ground with Oupa tangled up in the rope. He was drenched, bruised and shaken, but alive. Three Baker boys appeared on the scene. They shouted at the others. "The wrath of the Almighty is upon you!" They struck the fear of God into the hearts of the Marais boys who skulked away with their heads hung low. The Bakers helped Oupa on to the cart and they left. The Eucalyptus Tree was left all alone minus its branch. No-one to tend it. No-one to care.

Jo and I returned to the Park to look at the tree. It surveyed all around it proudly, like a father beaming at his sons. Its glorious canopy spread like a massive sun shade in hues of green. It's huge trunk was covered with strips of pale grey-brown bark that trailed down its sides. The afternoon sun's rays peeked mischievously through the foliage. We drank in its sweet fragrance. We had fallen in love with this majestic monument. The number of Spring Festivals it had experienced in this Park must have been close to a hundred, we guessed. Jo said he thought the tree smiled at him.

I lay in bed that night thinking about our tree. Patiently, quietly, watching; being neglected and ignored year after year. It was a survivor. It had courage and determination. Perhaps the only highlights in its life were the Spring Festivals in the Park where it endured patiently. I felt so sad...

A month later we heard that the Municipality was planning to chop down The Eucalyptus Tree.

"Why?” Jo and I demanded answers. They were going to upgrade the Park and needed space for a car park.

We sprang into action. We pasted posters everywhere. "Save the Eucalyptus Tree!" We launched a petition in favour of the tree and started a fund raising campaign. "Tom, look at this!" Jo sounded astonished. He pointed to the names on the petition. Most of the Bakers and the Marais family had signed. They also generously donated to the campaign. Oupa's grandson was a popular and competent lawyer. He sat with the town councillors and they agreed to spare The Tree!

They bricked a spacious pathway around the tree and then cordoned it off with an ornate fence flanked by an impressive stone pedestal at the gateway. The embedded metal plaque simply read: "The Town Park Eucalyptus Tree. 198 years of Loyalty" 2001 AD

Satisfied that it would preside at many more Spring Festivals we took a snapshot and proceeded toward the new car park. "Jo, I could've sworn that the tree winked at me!" Jo smiled knowingly.

The two families ended their feud at long last. Their common cause of rescuing the tree united them and attained peace and happiness among them. They invited Jo and me to a picnic in the Park under the shade of our beloved land mark.

It was a splendid afternoon. Bright, sunny, birds chirping, flowers blooming....Oh yes, It was Spring!

The children played ball games and we lounged about on blankets and folding chairs and engaged in pleasant conversation. The food and drink were mainstream, five star and abundant. It was memorable.

"Hey! I jumped up and darted toward a boy who had climbed over the gate at The Eucalyptus Tree. "Please don't try to carve anything in the tree trunk!" He paused and smiled, "Me? No way. This tree is our treasure. I'm only fetching our ball."

"Jo, I think we've done it. It has stood tall, brave and proud for so long and now at last it matters and has been awarded Dignity...."