‘The tallest and most stately trees I ever saw in any nobleman’s ground in England cannot excel in beauty those which nature presented to our view.’ First fleet surgeon Arthur Bowes

Eucalypts are a familiar part of our landscape and an integral part of the Australian identity. We have farmed them and used them to build houses, furniture, roads and bridges since the beginning of white settlement. We have been inspired by them, painted them, made films about them, written books about them and of course Aboriginal Australians have long made musical instruments from them. Though a small number are found as native plants in several other countries, Eucalypts are a very Australian tree.

This book celebrates their diversity, their beauty and the role they play in our history, culture and economy. It looks at their evolution, biology, horticulture and ecology, together with their classification and the botanists involved. Through historic and contemporary images, it examines the many ways in which they have served Aboriginal, colonial and contemporary Australians in both practical and aesthetic ways.

Eucalypts have quite literally been the building blocks of our nation and this beautiful book tells their complete story for the first time.