I am sharing a Facebook post from The Tree Projects about the bushfires in Tasmania & in particular, Centurion, a 500-year-old Mountain ash that has been destroyed by fire.

“FIRE UPDATE Sunday 27/1/19   

We have received credible reports that fire crews have done everything they could to save Centurion. This includes taking down nearby trees and removing fuel on the ground by hand to a 30m radius. This extreme effort in the face of what was surely a formidable fire we hope would have saved the tree. 

However, this morning’s map update brings quite devastating news. From the map, it looks like the entire valley has been burnt which is a very large area. This shaded area of map has definitely now consumed Centurion and the Arve Giant. We are lost for words. We might have lost a very significant percentage of our tallest trees and ones that might have been contenders over the next 100 years. Not to mention the forest and ecosystem as a whole.” 

The National Register of Big Trees says of Centurion, that it was a 500-year-old Mountain ash, (Eucalyptus regans).  In 2013 it had a circumference of 13.70-metres, a height of 99.82-metres & a crown of 18-metres making it the tallest tree in Australia. https://bit.ly/2MAo5vf

It was also the tallest hardwood tree in the world.

In December 2018, just 10-years after Centurion was discovered, it was re-measured & had reached a height of 100.5-metres lifting it into the special league of the Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) in California USA that are over 100-metres in height.

There are a couple of lovely photos of Centurion here –https://ab.co/2rwxOJa

The Arve Giant, another Mountain ash (Eucalyptus Regnans) at 87-metres tall, also perished in this fire.

This is a massive loss for Tasmania, Australia & the world.   A lot of people will grieve the death of these old giant trees.  The death of a 500-year-old tree is sad indeed.