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Suburban battler up a tree

MALCOLM QUEKETT, The West AustralianDecember 12, 2009, 11:25 am

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The defiant cry of the little Aussie battler taking on the big guys has rung out loudly down the years.

And this week, out the front of a modest home in an average street in a typical suburb of Perth, another everyman battle has been raging: Richard Pennicuik against the City of Gosnells.

Battle lines were drawn over Mr Pennicuik's bid to save a eucalyptus melliodora tree. His is one of the last two of 22 gums which once lined Hume Road, Thornlie, which the council says could be dangerous and should come down.

In their place the shire wants to plant 35 jacaranda mimosaefolia.

To save his tree, Mr Pennicuik took to the branches early on Monday morning and despite the council's urgings, was still refusing to come down yesterday.

The scene could be a film set. At ground level behind him is a battered old caravan, which Mr Pennicuik used when he last worked on the mines, ("the best job in the world, mate").

Above his house flies a torn Australian flag. Another flutters at the base of his tree home.

Mr Pennicuik, 57, said his tree was not dangerous and did not need to come down. "They just decided to step on us," he said.

He accepted the right of his neighbours to have their trees felled and they accepted his right to keep his. That's the Australian way.

Jacarandas, he said, "are a disaster". For a start, they were not natives. Their flowers left a stain and attracted bees, which was a problem to those who were allergic to their sting.

Neighbour Jason Telfer, 39, is a Yorkshireman. He's got a jacaranda out the front of his place. He said his gum trees were infected and were felled several years ago.

He did not protest at the time when the jacaranda went in, but now regrets it. "I was still an English Pom at the time and didn't know the difference between the trees," he said.

Now, he says he is an Aussie, except about cricket and backed Richard 100 per cent. He was helping by handling the spotlight on his mate, which was taking much of his time. "I was a plumber until four days ago," he said.

And just a few doors down, in the other eucalyptus, a rotating team of four have made their home among the gum trees.

Ashley Hayes, 16, came up from Port Kennedy to help out when he heard what was going on.

He had a team of mates with him to make sure their tree was never without a sitter.

Mr Pennicuik said he would stay "as long as it takes".

"Are they going to arrest me and put me in jail for sitting in a tree? For sticking up for my rights as an individual Australian citizen? I thought this was a democratic society," he said.

For its part, the City of Gosnells urged Mr Pennicuik to climb down to discuss the issue.

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