RESIDENTS living near John Curtin College of the Arts are back up in arms after a handful of mature trees they’ve fought for years to preserve were chopped down without notice.
The WA education department has acknowledged that three of the trees were classed as “significant”, two paperbarks and one coral tree, though the rest of the stumps appear to be pines.
Alan Ross is one of the “Friends of Bushy Hill” who have managed to hold off John Curtin’s expansions in the past and says it looked like its “building boom is on the march again”.
“Probably there is nothing I can do about it any more, but it’s saddening, and open space is going to lost for ever.”
Local Suze Leitão also contacted the Herald saying local residents hadn’t been informed about the works, and she was unhappy about the impact the loss of trees would have on birdlife.
• Locals were unhappy to see mature trees cut down on “Bushy Hill” at John Curtin College of the Arts this week, after fighting for years to keep the area leafy. They say they weren’t given any warning.
The education department says the trees had to go to make way for a new music building that was a Labor promise from the 2021 state election.
It would provide learning areas for orchestra, bands and other ensembles, practice studios, a STEM makerspace and design laboratory, and staff studies. There will also be water tanks and pumps to boost the college’s fire protection.
A spokesperson from the department said in a statement to the Herald that an arborist’s assessment of the trees found that one was affected by the polyphagous shot-hole borer and two others had a suspected infestation and were removed on the advice of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
They said the college wrote to “its community” in February. “The location of the new building was considered within the context of the overall site,” they said of siting the building on the leafy hill. “Proximity to learning areas, provision of open space, and heritage were assessed in conjunction with the existing site vegetation. “The configuration of the new building allows for the retention of as many trees as possible within the area with a central courtyard wrapping around a stand of melaleuca lanceolata (paperbark) trees and several significant native trees to be retained to its immediate south.” The department says 36 trees were tagged to ensure they were in a protected zone during construction, while 22 trees, and more than 1000 tubestock and shrubs would be planted as part of the project – a way to show that it was cognisant of the benefits of trees and schools and the message it would send to students about responding to climate change.
by STEVE GRANT