What is the oldest tree in Cooper Creek?
Cooper Creek's only mapped tree, and its oldest, is the Dig Tree, a Coolibah (Eucalyptus microtheca) on the north bank of Cooper Creek at the Dig Tree Reserve, near Nappa Merrie Station in far south-west Queensland. On 21 April 1861, William Brahe's party carved the word DIG into its trunk to mark a buried supply cache before abandoning their depot camp, and Burke and Wills died near this creek within months.
The word DIG was cut into the trunk on 21 April 1861 by William Brahe's rear party, marking a cache of food and supplies buried at its foot after the depot camp, Camp LXV, was abandoned. Burke and Wills, returning from the Gulf of Carpentaria, found the message too late and died near the creek within months; only John King survived. Queensland gazetted a 4,470 square metre reserve around the tree in 1964 and added it to the state heritage register in 2003. The Royal Historical Society of Queensland holds it in trust, and a 2020 refurbishment brought a boardwalk, interpretive signage and a site fee of around eleven dollars, paid at the gate or by QR code. Tourism sources repeat a reputed age of 200 to 250 years, but nobody has measured it, so it is stated here as a range rather than a fact. Getting there means committing to outback driving: about 44 kilometres of unsealed Adventure Way from Innamincka in South Australia, or 377 kilometres from Thargomindah in Queensland, and the road can close after rain. There is no public transport and no fuel or services at the site itself.
See more themed collections of remarkable trees.