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Thursday 31 August 2017

Poisoned Planet: And The Depopulation Agenda



 This article first appeared in New Dawn Magazine issue 163, July-August, 2017. © Brett Lothian.
 


Poisoned Planet: And the Depopulation Agenda

For decades it has been drummed into us by the world’s elite, their privately funded think tanks and their elite owned mainstream media, that overpopulation is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and if left unchecked, will lead to us destroying the environment and therefore, ourselves, despite the entire world’s population being able to fit into an area the size of New York. Humanity has been declared the enemy of all life on Earth, a cancer upon our planet that must be held in check at all costs. Andy Thomas put it succinctly in his article "Understanding the Ruling Elite” in New Dawn 127 (Jul-Aug 2011): "Those [of the elites] who have expressed support for eugenics and depopulation strategies, for instance, often have deep-seated environmental concerns or feel strongly that we have lost our balance with nature and must put the planet’s future ahead of the requirements of the common people.” Popularizing this idea was the book, The Population Bomb written by Stanford University Professor Paul R. Ehrlich in 1968, it warned of the mass starvation of humans in the 1970s and 1980s due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth.

In 1974 the United States National Security Council under the direction of Henry Kissinger, a member of the elite think tank the Club of Rome (premier think tank to the United Nations) compiled the National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200), which was adopted as official U.S. policy by President Gerald Ford in November 1975. It was originally classified, but was later declassified and obtained by researchers in the early 1990s. The basic thesis of the memorandum was that population growth in the least developed countries is a concern to US national security. The policy gives "paramount importance" to population control measures and the promotion of contraception among populous countries to control rapid population growth. It recommends for US leadership to "influence national leaders" and that "improved world-wide support for population-related efforts should be sought through increased emphasis on mass media and other population education and motivation programs by the UN, USIA, and USAID."

In 1976 the Club of Rome think tank released their “Goals for Mankind” saying that "… the resultant ideal sustainable population is hence more than 500 million but less than one billion.” Mikhail Gorbachev, the former head of the USSR and Club of Rome member put it this way, “We must speak more clearly about sexuality, contraception, about abortion, about values that control population, because the ecological crisis, in short, is the population crisis. Cut the population by 90% and there aren’t enough people left to do a great deal of ecological damage.” Highlighting the mindset of the world’s elite, the ever tactless Prince Phillip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II and Club of Rome member has said, “In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation.”

More recently in 2009, another elite think tank self-dubbed “The Good Club” including billionaires Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, David Rockefeller, Eli Broad, George Soros, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg and others concluded during their meeting, according to an article in the Times of London, headlined “Billionaire Club in Bid to Curb World Population,” that “Taking their cue from Gates they agreed that overpopulation was a priority.” Ted Turner the founder of CNN and TNT has himself previously been quoted as saying "A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal.” Microsoft founder, Monsanto investor and world’s richest man Bill Gates openly admitted in a 2010 TED presentation that through the use of vaccines (which he spends large amounts of his fortune promoting) populations can be dramatically reduced, despite vaccines supposedly being given to prevent death and disease.

Numerous other measures and events have been linked to the elite depopulation agenda, such as wars, economic sanctions, engineered food shortages, chem-trails, disease outbreaks, HAARP weather manipulation and the list goes on. But perhaps the most pervasive and despicable is the widespread use of glyphosate and genetically modified foods, as Club of Rome member Henry Kissinger has said “Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.” When think tanks like the Club of Rome and the supposed Good Club, with their billionaire backers and serious political clout want to depopulate the planet by as much as 90-95%, please believe that they will actually achieve it, if left unchecked, and food is the major key in doing just that.

This is where glyphosate (the major ingredient in the Monsanto herbicide Roundup) comes in, this poison is by far the most widely used herbicide worldwide in agriculture and its use is only increasing. Another major concern is genetically modified foods, which are predominantly modified in such a way as to be able to withstand more glyphosate being sprayed upon them, increasing the amount of glyphosate exposure to the consumer and the environment. Whilst 38 countries around the world have now banned genetically modified crops, with only 28 countries (Including Australia) still growing them, only Malta, Sri Lanka, Argentina and the Netherlands have actually banned glyphosate, which is the real problem with most genetically modified foods, particularly the so called “Roundup ready” varieties which are widely grown and sold in Australia. 

Glyphosate was first approved for use in the 1970s, and as of 2010 was labelled for use in 130 countries. In September 2013, the legislative assembly of El Salvador approved legislation to ban 53 agrochemicals, including glyphosate; the ban on glyphosate began in 2015. In April 2014, the legislature of the Netherlands passed legislation prohibiting sale of glyphosate to individuals for use at home, although commercial sales were not affected. In May 2015, the president of Sri Lanka banned the use and import of glyphosate, effective immediately. In May 2015, Bermuda blocked importation on all new orders of glyphosate based herbicides for a temporary suspension awaiting outcomes of research. In May 2015, Colombia announced that it would stop using glyphosate by October 2015 in the destruction of illegal plantations of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine. In June 2015, the French Ecology Minister asked nurseries and garden centres to halt over the counter sales of glyphosate in the form of Monsanto's Roundup. This was a nonbinding request and all sales of glyphosate remain legal in France until 2022, when the substance will be banned for home gardening. A vote on the relicensing of glyphosate in the EU stalled in March 2016. Member states France, Sweden, and the Netherlands objected to the renewal. A vote to reauthorize on a temporary basis failed in June 2016 but at the last-minute the license was extended due to industry pressure for another 18 months and will be re-evaluated at the end of 2017.

Thanks to the persistence of hundreds of plaintiffs in lawsuits alleging that they (or their deceased family members) were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after being exposed to Roundup, newly discovered internal emails and other documents being made public, paint an increasingly troubling and sinister picture of corruption. For decades, Monsanto has enjoyed a revolving door relationship with government agencies like the American EPA and USDA, giving the chemical company unprecedented power to influence and manipulate the regulatory process. Meanwhile, the biotech behemoth has attacked scientist’s claims that its flagship product, Roundup, causes harm to both humans and the environment, by discrediting scientists who raise concerns, coercing others into producing industry friendly research, and manipulating corporate media into spinning a favourable narrative. Whilst on the one hand clinging steadfastly to its claim that Roundup is “safe,” Monsanto strong-armed the junk food industry into joining forces against consumers who demanded, if your Roundup sprayed GMO foods are safe, you should have no problem labelling them.

But just as the truth about DDT and Agent Orange came too late for many of its victims, so it appears to be the case for the millions of people all over the world who have been affected by Monsanto’s Roundup. In the U.S., victims are fighting back through a wave of new lawsuits, more than 700, filed in St. Louis, Mo. (Monsanto headquarters) and Alameda, Calif. As reported in EcoWatch, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., co-counsel in some of the lawsuits, told St. Louis Public Radio, "We're bringing the lawsuit to address the injuries that have been caused by Roundup and glyphosate to mainly farmers and farm workers, but we think that consumers and home gardeners have also been affected." Monsanto is sticking to its story, that “when used according to directions,” Roundup is safe. Farmers who spray it, consumers who use it in their yards needn’t worry, the Biotech Giant says. But as lawyers and reporters sift through and pore over thousands of pages of court documents, Monsanto’s claims of safety ring more and more hollow.

As reported in Alternet, one of the documents unsealed by Judge Vince Chhabria was an email written by William F. Heydens, a Monsanto executive, giving his colleagues the green light to ghost-write glyphosate research and then hire academics to put their names on the papers. He even cited an instance where the company had used this method in the past. "We would be keeping the cost down by us doing the writing and they would just edit & sign their names so to speak," wrote Heydens. On March 21, officials at the New York Medical College (NYMC) in Valhalla, N.Y., told the American Association for the Advancement of Science they will investigate one of their faculty members, who according to the court documents, put his name on a paper partially ghost-written by Monsanto employees. At least one institution is willing to uphold the integrity of science.

In the coming weeks and months, reporters and lawyers will continue to sift through and analyse the mountain of new documents that include emails between Monsanto and EPA officials. What we’ve seen so far may be just the tip of the iceberg. In 2015, 17 scientists with the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research (IARC) on Cancer unanimously concluded (and since reaffirmed) that Roundup is a "probable carcinogen" to humans and that people exposed to Roundup are most likely to get non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other hematopoietic cancers. Last month, a report by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council, stated unequivocally that the storyline perpetuated by companies like Monsanto—the one that says we need pesticides like Roundup to feed the world—is a myth. And a catastrophic one at that. Since the EPA was established on December 2, 1970, to work for “a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people,” it has failed repeatedly to put public health above corporate profits, as documented in “Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA,” written by a 25-year veteran of the agency.

Recent U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal the former Bush administration drew up ways to retaliate against Europe for refusing to use genetically modified seeds. In 2007, then-US ambassador to France Craig Stapleton was concerned about France’s decision to ban cultivation of genetically modified corn produced by biotech giant Monsanto. He also warned that a new French environmental review standard could spread anti-biotech policy across Europe. In the leaked cable, Stapleton writes, "Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the [European] Commission...Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice."  Ambassador Stapleton goes on to write, "Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory," he wrote. No doubt a similar policy is in play in regards to Russia, who in July 2016 signed a law to ban the cultivation and breeding of genetically modified plants and animals.

In a stark demonstration of the power of the agrochemical industry to dictate the terms of a nation’s food safety system, former president Barrack Obama ignored 250,000 petitioners and signed into law Senate Bill 764, known to many as the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act. The DARK Act was boiled up by agrochemical industry lobbyists and their allies in Congress (both Republicans and Democrats) to prevent Vermont from becoming the first state in the country to implement a mandatory GMO labelling on food packaging. Employing the Orwellian tactic of double speak, with which the corporate media promotes the false narratives of corporate corrupted politicians, ABC News made no mention of the Vermont law, instead reporting that the bill “creates a federal labelling standard for foods containing genetically modified ingredients.” White House spokeswoman Katie Hill told ABC News, “This measure will provide new opportunities for consumers to have access to information about their food.” Professor Laura Murphy, director of the Environmental & Natural Resources Law Clinic at Vermont Law School, observed that the new law, in fact, does the opposite of creating consumer transparency for GMO food. “If Congress were really interested in providing consumers with information, it could have adopted Vermont’s on-package label that companies are already using across the country,” Murphy explained. “Instead, Congress created a mechanism for companies to hide behind QR codes and trample on state efforts to provide their citizens with actual information.  As if this weren’t bad enough, the federal law has a confusing definition of ‘bioengineering’ that gives USDA the authority to determine how much of a product needs to be bioengineered before a label is required, and prevents even the food companies from certain types of disclosure.“

Worryingly, things seem to be getting even worse under the current Trump administration, who has signed a Presidential order to create a new task force that will “recommend eliminating food and agriculture legislation, policies, and regulations that might hinder the profit-making of “agribusiness.” Again putting profits before people. If that wasn’t bad enough, recently Sherman County in Oregon is alleging that the 2,000 acre Azure Farms is not doing enough to control Canada thistle, a noxious weed. In this case, not doing enough means not spraying weeds with herbicides. To remedy the alleged problem, the county proposes seizing the farm and spraying everything with Roundup and other herbicides. Azure Farms is certified organic. Of course, organic farms cannot by definition use herbicides, so the farm would be forced out of business by the county government. Adding insult to injury, the county would place a lien on the property forcing it to pay for the herbicides. If this goes through, it will create an extremely worrying precedent, potentially putting all organic farming in the U.S in danger.

As I revealed in my previous article for New Dawn magazine, in issue 161 (March – April 2017) Poison Fields: What glyphosate is doing to us and the environment, glyphosate has been linked to almost every major disease epidemic and condition of our modern world, from cancer to neurological disorders such as learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), autism, dementia, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Linked disorders such as coeliac disease, gluten intolerance, autism and ADHD did not even exist until the advent of glyphosate and are now growing exponentially. As little as 50 years ago diseases like cancer and dementia were quite rare in the human population, today with the ever growing use of glyphosate, they have become the norm and are almost expected for all of us. But perhaps most importantly for the depopulation agenda is the drastic lowering of fertility and birth rates associated with the use of glyphosate. Many countries around the world are now experiencing what is being termed as ‘Ageing Populations’, meaning that today we are not replacing our current population levels at the same rates, which will lead to us not being able to support aged pensions as there will not be enough new tax payers to fund the support of our elders.  

Recently German conglomerate Bayer and Monsanto begun the process of a corporate merger, and as leading researcher F. William Engdahl has revealed will be releasing a new herbicide that will likely be even more toxic, although less well known. Seemingly playing a shell game to get around the ever growing bad publicity associated with the name Monsanto and its well-known poison Roundup (glyphosate), Bayer will soon become the new more friendly face of Monsanto’s poison business.  It has become plainly obvious that the highest seats of corporate and political power, regulatory bodies and large sections of the scientific community are working in collusion with Monsanto (soon to be Bayer), to cull the current human population through truly horrible diseases and at the same time destroy our ability to procreate. Even more sickeningly, the evil geniuses behind this depopulation agenda have managed to make enormous profits in doing so. As Mahatma Ghandi put it, "The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed."

On a brighter note in the news recently, a California state court has dismissed a legal challenge by Monsanto that seeks to bar the state from adding glyphosate, to a list of cancer causing chemicals. On March 10, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan ruled against Monsanto's challenge to a provision of Proposition 65, a California voter initiative passed in 1986 that requires the state's governor to publicize a list of chemicals known to cause cancer. Such a voter led initiative as Proposition 65 here in Australia would be a great step in curbing the elite and their companies like Monsanto-Bayer from being able to legally poison us and I encourage our wonderful New Dawn readers to become more politically active in forcing our government to undertake such measures. In the meantime the prevalence of glyphosate in our modern world leaves us few options but to either eat organic food, which is often prohibitively expensive or to grow our own food, which all too few today know how to do. We simply must force our governments and regulatory bodies to follow suit with an ever growing list of countries and ban GM crops and glyphosate, before it’s too late.


About the author: Brett Lothian is an Australian author, professional arborist, market gardener and ethnobotanist. He is the author of the Tricho Serious Ethnobotany blog and creator of The Trichocereus Cacti Appreciation Group, The Peyote Appreciation Group and The Ethnobotany Appreciation Group on facebook.

References:
Population Control: How corporate owners are killing us. By Jim Marrs

The entire world fits in New York City. By Ana Swanson
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/02/the-entire-world-fits-in-new-york-city/?utm_term=.c9462f082758

A Complete List of All Countries That Have Banned Glyphosate. By Matt Rozsa
https://backtotheroots.com/blogs/bttr/a-complete-list-of-all-countries-that-have-banned-glyphosate

Sorry, Monsanto: GMO Crops Now Banned In 38 Countries, Grown In Only 28. From: Healthy Holistic Living
http://countercurrentnews.com/2017/01/sorry-monsanto-gmo-crops-now-banned-in-38-countries-grown-in-only-28/

Glyphosate Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate#Legal_status

Bill Gates and George Soros fund Monsanto and a world depopulation agenda. By S. D. Wells
http://www.naturalnews.com/054899_eugenics_GMO_Bill_Gates.html

Genetics are the New Eugenics: How GMO’s Reduce the Human Population. By F. William Engdahl
http://katehon.com/article/genetics-are-new-eugenics-how-gmos-reduce-human-population

Congress Must Investigate Collusion Between Monsanto and the EPA, Now. By Katherine Paul
https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/congress-must-investigate-collusion-between-monsanto-and-epa-now

WikiLeaks Cables Reveal U.S. Sought to Retaliate Against Europe over Monsanto GM Crops. By Democracy Now
https://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/23/wikileaks_cables_reveal_us_sought_to

Obama Expands Monsanto Doctrine By Signing DARK Act And Invalidating Vermont GMO Labelling Law. By Jonathan Greenberg
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-signs-dark-act-to-invalidate-vermonts-landmark_us_57a644c7e4b0ccb023727b2d

Monsanto attempt to block glyphosate from California cancer list tossed by judge.
https://www.rt.com/usa/380590-monsanto-california-glyphosate-cancer-list/

Billionaires Try to Shrink World’s Population, Report Says. By Robert Frank
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2009/05/26/billionaires-try-to-shrink-worlds-population-report-says/

The Population Bomb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb

National Security Study Memorandum 200
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Study_Memorandum_200

Moscow Bans GMO: Russia, the World’s Largest GMO-free Territory, Platform for the Development of Organic Agriculture. By Elena Sharoykina
http://www.globalresearch.ca/moscow-bans-gmo-russ ia-the-worlds-largest-gmo-free-territory-platform-for-the-development-of-organic-agriculture/5548448

BREAKING NEWS: President Trump Pushes GMOs in New Executive Order. By Nick Meyer
http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/breaking-news-president-trump-pushes-gmos-in-new-executive-order/

Oregon Officials Threaten To Seize 2,000 Acre Organic Farm, Spray It With Roundup. By Tyler Durden
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-16/oregon-officials-threaten-seize-2000-acre-organic-farm-spray-it-roundup

Friday 11 August 2017

The Rhyll Trout and Bush Tucker Farm

This article and all pictures used are the copyright of Brett Lothian, 2017 ©
 

The Rhyll Trout and Bush Tucker Farm


While traveling around Phillip Island in southern Victoria, Australia with my beautiful amazing girl, we came across the lovely little sea side hamlet of Rhyll, where much to my delight we found a Trout and Bush Tucker Farm that I just had to check out. Not being the keenest of fishermen, I wasn't particularly interested in fishing for the introduced Trout species, what intrigued me of course was the promise of bush tucker, and hopefully some interesting plants that I could learn some more about, with an eye toward potentially growing at home for food crops. 

Click on the photos to enlarge
Thankfully with the ever growing 'foodie' culture here in Australia, bush tucker is making a bit of a resurgence in popularity. For far too long our wonderful native food plants have been neglected for the European and American varieties, which is a great shame when we have so many exciting native species right here to utilize. Bush tucker of course has for tens of thousands of years been an integral part of the traditional knowledge of our native Australians, but is generally not something most people of European descent know a lot about today. 
'Warrigal Greens' Tetragonia tetragoniodes, a tasty leafy green native vegetable
Unfortunately with our ever increasingly specialized society, basic life skills like which plants you can eat and which you can not, are no longer taught to people in our modern western society, much to our detriment. Despite having food growing all around us, all of the time, most people today can not recognize it and fail to make the most out of our natural resources, limiting our ability to survive if for whatever reason, the super markets ever run dry. Utilizing bush tucker is not only smart in a survival sense, but it also is a great way to save money. Having formerly worked as a chef and restaurant manager, this has been a focus of mine for some time, and I can never learn enough about our native food and medicine plants.

The edible fruit of the 'Lilly Pilly' tree, Syzygium smithii
With 1.2 km of walking tracks through 7 acres of food crops, covering 27 different native food species, the Rhyll Trout and Bush Tucker Farm is a truly educational experience. With largely excellent signage, full of useful information, you will definitely come across something here you will recognize but never knew you could eat. Some of the plantings have at the time of writing this, not yet reached maturity, but largely you can view (and taste) the wide variety of plants in all their glory. 

'Flinders Island Celery' Apium insulare

In the Farmhouse cafe onsite there are numerous different meals and food products you can order and buy, utilizing the native bush tucker grown on the farm as well as other locally sourced products, and of course delicious trout, that you have either caught yourself or that is supplied for you. Also onsite is a great little nursery where you can buy the majority of the native bush tucker plants grown on the farm, to grow yourself at home. So, if you are ever down this way, I encourage you to stop in and visit this excellent little farm and get into the amazing plants we have growing all around us. You will not be disappointed. For more information click on the following link for the Rhyll Trout and Bush Tucker Farm website.
'Mountain Pepper' Tasmannia lanceolata
Following on from this story I will be writing a series of Bush Tucker articles, taking an in depth look at all the different species grown here on the farm, as well as many others that I happen to come across, covering the traditional as well as modern uses for these beautiful tasty plants that we have growing here in Australia, as well how to grow and care for them at home, so stay tuned!

By Brett Lothian

Thursday 3 August 2017

The 'Moonah' Trees: An Ancient Love Story

This article and all pictures used are the copyright of Brett Lothian, 2017 ©.
An ancient stand of 'Moonah' trees

The 'Moonah' Trees: An Ancient Love Story


Whilst visiting friends in Cowes, Phillip Island, Victoria, I came across a map of the island and surrounding areas with the various tourist attractions to visit, of course there was the expected penguin parade, seal and whale watching areas as well as something I was not expecting, a site I had never heard of before that promised 300+ year old 'Moonah' trees on the adjoining Churchill Island. Being an arborist, ethnobotanist and avid tree lover, naturally I was intrigued, so I decided to doing a little digging and learn just what these 'Moonah' trees were and what the story behind them was.


Sculpture representing the ancient Bunurong legend of the entwined lovers

The name 'Moonah' comes from the indigenous people of Australia and has been recorded by SJ Endacott in Aboriginal Words and Place Names, as meaning 'Gum Trees' which I found odd as the term 'Gum Tree' normally refers to Eucalyptus trees and with the 'Moonah' trees actually being a species of Maleleuca, namely Maleleuca lanceolata. The regions indigenous history is tied to the Bunurong people who call Churchill Island, 'Moonahmia' after the special trees that grow here. Legend has it that among the Bunurong people lived a boy and a girl who had fallen in love. They spent every minute tightly embraced in each others arms. They were so in love that they neglected their daily duties. The Bunurong elders told the boy and the girl that they must not forget their places amongst the people and must help with the work. This warning could not break the lovers bond. Eventually the Bunurong were so tired of the Boy and the Girl disappearing to be alone that they were banished from their people. The lovers left together to where they could be alone in their tight embrace where they froze in place leaving the twist of their entwined bodies to became the wrapping trunk and branches of the Moonah tree. Eventually their love had spread across the island and covered it with their children who still grow there today.
The ancient lovers entwined still today
Whilst some may consider this a quaint, if not antiquated animist tale, I personally find it to be a beautiful way of looking at these amazing old trees and an excellent way of conveying an important lesson to the young people of the tribe, and perhaps even to the young people of today. Looking at the above picture, it is not hard to see just what those ancient Bunurong people saw way back when this ancient legend was told around the campfire. Traditionally Melaleuca species where used for numerous purposes including using the bark for cooking, torches, coverings for huts and smoke ceremonies. Also the leaves and oil where used traditionally to treat colds and flu and as an antiseptic. 

A beautiful example of the gnarled and knotted growth of the 'Moonah' trees

This species has an extensive occurrence across southern Australia extending the west coast of Western Australia to central Victoria, with occurrences in south and central New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. There are outliers on Dirk Hartog Island and in the Darling Downs region of southeast Queensland. In the past, four subspecies of M. lanceolata have been recognised but more recently it has been considered a single taxon. Melaleuca lanceolata is either a bushy shrub, usually 2-4 m tall, often much wider than tall or an irregularly branched tree 5-10 m in height. It is found along coastal dune systems and drainage lines in drier parts of its range. It grows on a wide range of soil types, including alkaline sands and shallow reddish clays derived from limestone and deep sands.
One of the larger 'Moonah' trees, perhaps up to 500 years old

The 'Moonah' tress of Churchill Island have been estimated at being from anywhere from 300 to 500 years old, with their lifespan potentially being even longer in the right circumstances. Considering the harsh coastal climate of Churchill Island they potentially could grow for much longer in more favourable environments. This species starts flowering during summer. Mature seed capsules are maintained on plants throughout the year. There are about 1320 viable seeds per gram; seeds start to germinate in about 7 days if grown at 10-25°C with no pre-treatment required. Without application of fertiliser, seedlings of this species will not grow.

The largest stand of 'Moonah' trees on the island


Melaleuca lanceolata is a relatively fast growing species that favours alkaline soils and tolerates moderate levels of salinity. The dense canopy of this species provides excellent shade. Natural stands provide a particularly useful shelter as a windbreak near coastal sites. The wood is dense, dark brown, durable in the ground making it suitable for round fencing and is a good fuel wood. It produces a useful source of pollen and honey for apiculture.
A fallen 'Moonah' trunk
Churchill Island is a 50.7-hectare (125.3-acre) island in Western Port, Victoria, Australia. It is connected by a bridge to Phillip Island. It is the site of the first European garden in Victoria. It contains a working farm, cottages dating from the 1860s and a homestead dating from 1872, all fully restored and open to the public. The island adjoins the 670-hectare (1,656-acre) Churchill Island Marine National Park. The island is maintained by Phillip Island Nature Parks.

Map of the sites to see on Churchill Island
In 1801, during the course of a survey of Western Port, Lieutenant James Grant had some of his convict crew fell some trees and built a blockhouse on Churchill Island. They cultivated a patch of soil and Grant planted seeds of wheat, corn, potatoes, peas, coffee berries, apples, peaches and nectarines given to him for the purpose of creating a garden "for the future benefit of our fellow men be they Countrymen, Europeans or Savages" by John Churchill of Dawlish in Devon, England. This was the first European garden and crop of wheat grown in Victoria.
Cairn commemorating the 1st cultivation of wheat in Victoria
Samuel Amess, a former mayor of Melbourne, purchased the island in 1872 and built the substantial home that still stands today. The Bunurong people may have visited Churchill Island for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. Remains of stone foundations from two unknown buildings are also preserved on the island. The Churchill Island Marine National Park adjoins the island's western shore, and Western Port bay, in which the island is located, is listed under the Ramsar Convention.

Click on the above photo for even more photos of Churchill Island and the ancient 'Moonah' trees
I highly recommend visiting Churchill Island if you get the chance, there is something very special about being able to touch and feel the ancient presence of these amazing trees that were here long before the white man ever landed on these shores. Churchill Island is an amazing place full of history and well worth the time to take a look around, the walking tracks are well maintained and you will not be disappointed by these ancient 'Moonah' trees.

By Brett Lothian.

 
References: 

Aboriginal Words and Place Names by SJ Endacott
http://www.icg-lakemacquarie2014.com/downloads/Gwandalan.pdf


Forbidden Love

http://www.southsidetravel.com/blog-articles/forbidden-love.aspx

Melaleuca Lanceolata - Factsheet
http://www.florabank.org.au/lucid/key/species%20navigator/media/html/Melaleuca_lanceolata.htm

Churchill Island Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_Island
 

Coastal guide to nature and history: Volume 2 By Graham Patterson
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=foLVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=melaleuca+lanceolata+churchill+island&source=bl&ots=qQ3JSDGhJ1&sig=BRgx2EFWu6y_uYJ0ocp6pgtEAUE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJut6t47fVAhWMebwKHbenAzoQ6AEIRzAH#v=onepage&q=melaleuca%20lanceolata%20churchill%20island&f=false

Plants and People in Mooro Country
http://www.joondalup.wa.gov.au/Files/Plants%20and%20People%20in%20Mooro%20Country.pdf