This tree bears the scars of having its bark removed by Aborigines in preparation for making a bark canoe. The canoe would have been approximately three metres in length - a suitable size to accommodate a single individual. It's probable use would have been to collect shellfish from the myriad of sandbanks and mud flats in the area.
The process by which a canoe was made may have taken up to two weeks. It involved driving stone wedges into the trunk and gradually prizing a slab of bark from the tree (look carefully and you will see where the wedges were driven). The tree has attempted to heal the wound by growing new bark over the injured area.
By soaking, heating and bending the required shape was achieved and this was secured and sealed at the ends to finish the canoe. The canoes used by the people of Stradbroke Island were of simple but robust construction.
