This is the sad day we journeyed to the township of Trafalgar in Gippsland, Victoria, to visit the jewel in Latrobe City's Crown - the 'Traf Prince' wild roadside apple tree.
'Traf Prince', a chance seedling, (and therefore probably virus-free) has been described as comparable to Pink Lady. 'No other apples known to match it for flavour that time of year. Sweet, juicy and crunchy.'
Some scion wood was to be cut and mailed to the Yalca Fruit Tree Nursery so that they could sell 'Traf Prince' apple trees in their 2014-2015 catalogue.
We discovered that this irreplaceable, unique roadside seedling was hacked down and obliterated by Latrobe City Council early in 2014, at ratepayers' expense.
It was extremely disappointing to learn that Latrobe City's policy had destroyed
something of extraordinary value prior to the moratorium announced on 11 April 2014.
Fire-attractant trees, with their volatile oils and slow-decaying leaf litter, the eucalypts continue to enhance bushfires in Latrobe City.
Here is a photo taken on the same day, a little further down the road.
Roads should be firebreaks - not fire bridges.
Neil grafted some new trees and distributed them to friends and acquaintances.
If you are growing a Traf Prince apple tree - guard it well!