THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

One of the very interesting things we viewed at Barcaldine was "THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE'.
In 1891 the shearers and pastoralists were involved in an industrial battle that was to profoundly affect Australia's future.
The unions argued that they should have the right to stipulate who could work in the shearing sheds and the employers argued for the right to engage any workers on conditions to be negotiated.
After the strike a large Ghost Gum in the centre of "Barcy" came to symbolise this important place and time and became known as "The Tree of Knowledge".
In May 2006 the Tree was poisoned and never recovered and now has an architecturally designed memorial opened in May 2009.