At 09:49 10/08/99 +1000, Marcia wrote: >After the bush fires early 1900s, Nicholas Penny housed his family in a >large tree somewhere near Fumina or Noojee. >If anyone has details of this, or comes across mention of it in their >reading, or is descended from this family, I would be pleased to hear >from them. Hi Marcia and List, This is the famous Penny Tree, which we used as the cover photo for Gippsland Heritage Journal No 19 (1996). The main photo is by Max Lowenhardt and shows John Green, Mrs Eva Penny (inside the tree and hardly visible) nursing Charlie, May, George and Nicolas Penny. Colin Silcock wrote of the tree on p.39 that the family lived int he hollowed-out butt for nine months in 1906-1907. It was 20 feet across at floor level with 12 feet of head room inside. Nicholas Penny ring-barked the tree in 1905, with it being 130 feet high with the top broken off. The fires the following year destroyed the tent in which he was living and hollowed out the tree. After "making a few alterations" Penny moved in and brought his wife and children across from Outtrim. They later built a more permanent home. The tree was destroyed in the 1926 bushfires. There are two smaller photos of the tree on page 1, and I would put it up in the AVG home page Picture Gallery, except the Deputy is still rebuilding his computer following a major crash. In passing, I cannot stress enough, the importance of backing up files.