Written in King Billy’s tree rings: 1700 years of climate history

Tasmania’s iconic King Billy pines
offer an insight into the area’s
climate history. 

Hikers traversing the world famous Overland Track between Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair in western Tasmania occasionally find themselves wandering from alpine scrubland into forests of towering King Billy Pines.

Found only in Tasmania, these conifer trees, named for Tasmanian Aboriginal William Lanne (known as King Billy), can live for more than 1000 years, and their wood contains an environmental history of every one of those years.

After eight years of sampling, measuring, cross-referencing and computer matching, an international research team has built a 1700-year King Billy Pine tree ring chronology. It is only the second Australian tree-ring chronology to exceed 1200 years, and it is the first published King Billy Pine chronology to exceed 1000 years.

They also produced reconstructions of historic streamflows in western Tasmania from hundreds of years ago and are working on reconstructing historic temperatures.

Read the story by Eisha Gupta from the University of Melbourne on Pursuit - “Written in King Billy’s tree rings: 1700 years of climate history.”