SYDNEY, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Australian conservationists have expressed outrage after a rare 170-year-old tree was cut down in Tasmania.
The bunya pine tree, which is native to Australia, was cut down due to the pines, which can weigh up to 10 kg, posing a threat to people and cars.
The trees are especially hard to grow in Tasmania due to the state's cool climate.
It is believed a pair were planted in the 1840s by Captain Charles Swanston, the first president of the Hobart Town Horticultural Association.
One of the pair stood on the property of Warwick Oakman, deputy chair of the National Trust Tasmania, while the other was on land owned by the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office (TCEO).
Oakman received a letter from the TCEO on Tuesday advising his tree would be cut down over safety concerns and on Thursday it was gone.
"It is a great pity, because an understanding is lost of botanical history in Tasmania," Oakman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.
David Bedford, former director of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, said the tree carried botanical, horticultural and cultural significance.
"The horticultural success of these trees in Hobart has great botanical significance in showing that the climatic range of the species is much greater than its current natural distribution," Bedford said.
"The tree's survival was also a considerable horticultural achievement."
The TCEO said the tree had recently dropped a series of pine cones weighing 6 kg each, which had caused "considerable damage" to parked cars.
