Catalyst: Australia’s Favourite Tree

Australia is home to over seven thousand species of native trees.

In this 2-part Catalyst special, Ann Jones and Paul West travel across Australia to meet scientists and First Nations peoples to investigate the clever and complex lives of some of our most iconic trees.

On a mission to find a candidate from each State and Territory, they will declare one of them Australia’s Favourite Tree.

From high up in the tree-top canopy of Tasmania’s Huon Pine, one of the oldest living organisms on Earth, to Strangler Figs with 40-metre girths that thrive in our North Queensland rainforests, Ann and Paul uncover the role trees play in their environment, learn of their historical importance, and celebrate the incredible resilience of trees through climate change and deforestation.

After the tales of eight remarkable trees across Australia’s vast and varied landscape, a panel of expert judges will digest the facts and the stories, and at the end of the series they will crown… Australia’s Favourite Tree!

Episode One:
In part one of a two-part Catalyst special, Ann Jones and Paul West travel to TAS, NT, VIC and SA to meet locals and scientists to investigate the clever and complex lives of some of our most iconic trees. But this is no ordinary tree hunt. Ann and Paul are on a mission to find a candidate from each State and Territory, and crown one of them “Australia’s Favourite Tree”.

Ann and Paul will uncover the role trees play in their environment, learn of their historical importance and celebrate the incredible resilience of trees through climate change and deforestation.

In TAS, Paul becomes of one of the first people to ever climb into the canopy of a Huon Pine – one of the oldest organisms on the planet – to see the tree-top ecosystem.On the edge of the Simpson Desert in NT, Ann discovers Australia’s ‘loneliest tree’ – the Acacia Puece. With only a few stands left, the race is on to save the species.

Heading south, Ann ventures into the old forests of VIC to discover the majestic Mountain Ash – the tallest flowering plant on the planet. These towering giants are under threat from fires and logging.

SA is the final stop where Paul explores an iconic Eucalypt – the River Red Gum. They are the great diviners of the landscape growing where there is either water on the surface or not far beneath it.

Monday 16th August, 8.30pm on ABC.