Thinking about the community of owners and interested people represented in this site and Tasmania's Midlands landscape is an interesting proposition. The boundary fence above is as poignant a 'symbol' as the word 'tree.' The electrification signage is equally so. There is as much to be 'read' in the fence as there may be in the word.
And then there is the individual, corporate, organisational and institutional 'branding and badging' announcing a range of interests – and ownerships and thus rights of various kinds. In amongst that there is 'government' at all levels declaring its interests. None of this is all that subtle. Nonetheless there are subliminal 'soul mates' matching those announced – bankers and financiers being among them.
At a more subtle level there is something to be read in the species selection in this experimental 'planting'. Environment managers, land managers, foresters of various kinds, researchers of various kinds, names just some who have something 'invested' in the selection'. In the Tasmanian Midlands especially a range of tensions can be found in their various interests.
In amongst the ecucalypts there are two odd trees out that were left over from – survived rather – from the year 2000 planting – and left in 2002 when almost all the other trees were planted. They symbolise another group of people with something invested in this site and landscape. After that there are others who use the site as various kinds of landmarks and who have a myriad of stories to tell linked to the site. It is impossible to rank their various 'interests and ownerships' or even know them all. But with these interests come rights and obligations. Some are more onerous than others but all are assessed more subjectively than objectively. Indeed, some individuals may have conflicting benefits and duties symbolised in this site.In the end the REDreadTREE and TREEreadRED sit in a post-colonial cultural landscape. There are cultural tensions in all this.
2 comments:
I wonder why GUNNS haven't got their name up on this board. They have to be supporters since this is about "BEST PRACTICE" and they are into that. Their drivers pass this spot every day in large numbers and they need to be continually reminded that they are a part of best practice.
Barry
I do not know who is doing it but someone is planting these bloody nitens all over the hills behind this little plantation by the highway. I imagine that it is gunns and I rekon they took the trees that were there before and chipped them all up. That is what passes for best practice in good old tassie.
roadrunner
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