Melbourne's south-east parks suffer from significant tree vandalism

Glen Eira City Council, situated in Melbourne’s south east, is abhorred by the destruction of around 200 newly planted trees across eight of its parks on Sunday night by vandals.

Young trees and shrubs were cut at the base with a hand saw, snapped at the base and, in some case, completely ripped out from the ground.

Some of these trees are very rare and may not be able to be replaced, including the Red Gums at Boyd Park which were grown from seeds collected from the trees that were removed for the Murrumbeena train station.

This destruction is not only unlawful, it is extremely distressing and undermines Council’s push to increase Glen Eira’s tree canopy - something they committed to significantly increasing in their Urban Forest Strategy.

The damage of these trees also places a further cost burden onto ratepayers. Each tree is valued at around $700 cost to purchase, plant and establish with a combined cost of $80,000. Further costs for repair and replanting of the locations result in the total cost of this vandalism to nearly $200,000.       

Council director of sustainability, assets and infrastructure, Niall McDonagh, described the vandalism as senseless and advised that Council had had reported the incidents to police.

McDonagh shared "It's really distressing for us and the community because we've worked really hard over the last few years around policies, strategies, guidelines to really establish these trees to help our urban forest grow.’

McDonagh said it was unclear whether one offender or one group was responsible, adding that the parks were not on a walking route or connected.

He said support was being offered to the workers, who had been encouraged by the messages they had received from the community.

Glen Eira Council advised it's looking to organise community re-planting days following many social media users responding to the council's Facebook post expressing a desire to help re-plant the replacement trees, saying they were appalled and heartbroken by the loss.

The locations of the vandalism:

• Caulfield Park, Caulfield

• Marara Reserve, Caulfield South

• Princes Park, Caulfield South

• EE Gun Reserve, Ormond

• Packer Park, Carnegie

• Boyd Park, Murrumbeena

• Mallanbool Reserve, Murrumbeena

• Rosanna Street Reserve, Carnegie

The investigation is continuing. None of the council's CCTV cameras caught the offenders in their recordings.

Council is appealing for anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

Significant penalties apply as these acts of vandalism constitute Criminal Damage under the Crimes Act. The penalty is a maximum 10 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to $218,000.

Images. Credit:Glen Eira Council