A prominent tree has been felled from the middle of a well-used roundabout on the Sunshine Coast.
The natural landmark was reduced to a shallow stump and roots at the three-way junction on Traders Place, Maroochydore, in early January.
The tree was a regular sight for people travelling to and from the Maroochy Bridge Hotel and liquor store, Maroochy Waters Shopping Centre, Maroochy Waters Medical Practice, a kindergarten and other businesses.
Local resident Louise Phillips expressed her dismay at its removal.
“It was beautiful,” she said.
“I thought locals were meant to be consulted before this happens or does the decision belong to the hotel?
“I’m really disgusted and disappointed that this old tree was cut down … either by council or privately, without any communication or consultation.
“It’s just wrong.
“I think it was a Moreton Bay fig: it was really old.”
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Sunshine Coast Council stated that the tree was on private property and council’s development website appears to show the roundabout is on the same property as the hotel.
Sunshine Coast News reached out to the owner of the hotel, Star Group, and the venue manager but is yet to receive a response.
Associate Professor John Dwyer, of the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at the University of Queensland, said the tree was likely non-native to the area.
“Based on the canopy shape (non-weeping habit), this was likely a Ficus microcarpa var. hillii (Hill’s fig),” he said.
“It is native to north Queensland and South-East Asia but not the Sunshine Coast.
“According to the Sunshine Coast Street Tree Masterplan 2018, only locally native fig species are being planted/encouraged these days.”
That includes the likes of the Moreton Bay fig, the small-leaved fig and White’s fig.
He speculated why the tree was removed.
“Possibly because the roots were damaging the road or the canopy was blocking signage, but who knows?” he said.
Botanist Stuart Worboys, of the Australian Tropical Herbarium at James Cook University, said he was “quite sure” it was a Hill’s fig, which he said was “a widely cultivated ornamental fig”.
“They were planted at a lot in roundabouts and parks in the 1990s and early 2000s on the Sunny Coast.”
Mr Worboys estimated that the tree was about 12-15m tall and it was about 28 years old.
He questioned whether the tree would be replaced “with something of equal stature”.
