It was at least 160 years old, about 8.2 tonnes heavy and dead.
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But this yellow box gum (picture), which has stood for decades longer than the Amaroo houses built around it, will be resurrected as a habitat for native birds, bats and other animals at Barrer Hill at the new reserve being created on the banks of the Molonglo River.
A team of professional arborists joined staff from the ACT Environment Directorate's Parks and Conservation Service and Australian National University senior fellow Dr Karen Ikin and honours student Lucy Hannan, for the operation to move the tree on Friday.
Ms Hannan, who is researching the potential for old large trees to be re-used as new, partly artificial habitats for native birds and animals, said it was the fourth tree so far removed from Canberra's suburbs as part of what may be a global-first research project to both restore degraded landscapes and save old trees from fireplaces.
Parks and Conservation Service's Darren Le Roux said the project was a product of an ANU-ACT Government collaboration, with this particular operation part of Ms Hannan's research, and its resurrection used some detailed engineering work to hold it up for its new use.
The complete tree was cut and lifted from the ground before being placed on a semi-trailer and lopped to fit safely on the truck for removal to the reserve, ahead of the future erection of several similar old large trees at proposed reserve at Barrer Hill.
