The Deity of the Desert

Cradled in the arms of the disappearing giant

Recent rains in north eastern Australia have given some relief for the starved grazers and the graziers. The tributaries in the catchment of the Darling River have been flowing, birds have begun to sing again and the socially isolating frogs are stirring from their torpor deep beneath the desert sands, and practising their excited croaking. Much further down the Darling where the rain and river water is yet to reach, just near to where it greets the Murray River, there is a tiny little desert of drifting sands, still dry with nothing stirring.

The drifting sands of the Perry Sandhills

The Perry Sandhills are a little maelstrom of drifting, swirling red sands. Sands which have perhaps covered a multitude of natural, social and cultural history. Here stands the Deity of the Desert, or the “God Tree” as it is more usually referred to. A giant of a River Redgum being swallowed up by the desert sands. Who knows how big this monster really is but it feels like the sands come up to its waist and you are gently cradled in its arms.

Only the top of this giant River Redgum is visible above the desert sands.

This is definitely a tree to worship, while you can.

Who knows how much longer it might survive before being suffocated by the sands of time.

The tree can be found a ten minute drive from Wentworth in NSW via a sealed road.