the tree of shiva

Eucalyptus has been called "the tree of Shiva" by David Foster, an Australian  writer ( the winner of the 1997 Miles Franklin Award) . It is a phrase that has stuck in my mind. I grew up with Euclalypts in the Nilgiris, the 'Blue Mountains' of South India. I painted them - usually blue.   It was only when i shifted to Canberra  that I saw them in a new light. Understood their history.  Understood what David Foster means when he says -----------

"Eucalypts thrive on global warming. They are the tree of Siva. They are the tree of the future. They are the enemy of the farmer, the friend of the hunter-gatherer. 'Your days are numbered' they say to us

..." Eucalypts have adapted to Fire .They love it. .  They even procreate through the very fiery pyres they  create and  feed. They are the Destroyer and the Creator. They are  the tree of Shiva.

This is a picture from  my Dreamtime story of Australia as the original  land of Shiva. A story  about the time when India and Australia were a part of the  super continent Gondwana land. 

"The reason why we Europeans have never been really comfortable here is that they [the eucalypts] don't approve of us," says Foster. "They are not compatible with our farming ways. They make the landscape more arid. They don't produce anything we eat. They spread fire. They encourage fire. I do believe the eucalypt is actively seeking to create a drier climate. It suits their purpose." The eucalypt may be beloved here, it may be the great Australian, but unless we start to understand the environment we share with it, the eucalypt could outlast the consumer society we have built here, and make a mockery of our vanities. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/29/1043804405093.html