Citizen scientists Eucalypts of Narrogin uncovering the hidden magic of eucalyptus in the Wheatbelt South

Three Narrogin citizen scientists are 12 months away from completing a unique catalogue of the region’s native eucalypts. Eucalypts of Narrogin — Di Strahan, Sally Rogers and Sue Bicknell — have spent two years charting the locations of the trees in the Wheatbelt South. “We created a 50km circle around Narrogin and we then looked for any of the reserves in that,” Ms Strahan said. “We’ve only probably got through about a quarter of our reserves but we’re working on that and then trying to find how many eucalypts grow naturally within that radius.” WA boasts about 550 different species and subspecies of eucalypt. The region the trio have focused on is a prolific patch with 36 now identified. “The reason we’ve got that many is because we’re in the crossover between the jarrah in the west and the mallees in the east, we’re almost on the cusp of both,” Ms Strahan said. “It’s been really interesting to find those and to actually learn how to identify what you’re looking at.” Beyond identifying the species, the team is also looking at the variety of earthy-toned dyes that can be extracted from the plant through boiling and steeping. “The trees we’re working with, many of them don’t grow anywhere else,” Ms Bicknell said. “Literally they don’t grow outside of WA and the ones that we’re picking up don’t grow very much outside the Wheatbelt area.” Their process has included creating sheets of toned swatches using wool, linen, cotton and silk to showcase the unique colours that can be produced from each tree. The group have recorded their finds and are creating a valuable resource for scientists and artists alike. “This information isn’t available elsewhere,” Ms Bicknell said. “We want what we find out to be available for anybody to use so we will end up putting all of this up in pictorial form on a website.” The group is also eager to hear from community members with stories about eucalypts like the George Brockway Tree, a grand salmon gum named after the pioneering WA conservationist that stands at Yilliminning Rock. “There’s a few stories of special trees on farms,” Ms Bicknell said. “Some of them, you look at — how ancient are they?” Anyone with information can get in touch via eucalyptsofnarrogin@gmail.com.