Willoughby Council initiated the inaugural Tree Festival in 2024 in part to raise support for the natural environment, because of the serious vandalism involving the illegal cutting and poisoning of 265 trees in 2023. The program included engaging our Tree Veneration Society and my contribution involves a collaboration with Tom Levick from the CSRIO, whose scientific mapping is creatively interpreted in an installation incorporating moving image, sculpture and educational material. .

Tom’s mapping identifies Phytophthora, commonly known as Dieback, as Willoughby Council’s largest ecosystem health problem.  Dieback refers to the gradual deterioration of health in trees, which is usually caused by a combination of factors, such as disease and pathogens, insect attack and/or stressful climate conditions. Tom’s mapping, included below, shows the distribution of Phytophthora in Willoughby Council and surrounds.

In the moving image element of the work, the cartoon One Froggy Evening from 1955 is used with present day footage. The dancing frog performs for the lobbyists who run the parliamentary system in Canberra and others who find him in a box.  The frog stops as they try and exploit him for wealth, always devolving into deadpan croaking in the presence of others and pointing to the devastation of the environment. In our version are included those activities that enable Dieback to continue to flourish in Willoughby.  

Here are links to plant Information to assist with Dieback:

Native Garden Plants Resistant to Dieback

Phytophthora in Australia and Resistant Lomandras