This is not a field guide. For eucalypt identification; Dean Nicolle has you covered. Instead, Stephen Hopper’s Eucalyptus is an exploration of the cultural, social and scientific significance of the eucalypt trees that define Australia.

First Nations perspective

Eucalypts feature prominently, and are active players, in the Dreaming. Hopper is a careful historian, and the book opens with a sensitive retelling of several creation stories of First Nations people.
These stories carry layers of practical wisdom – pointing to the best timbers for spears, bark for shelters and canoes, and species whose seeds or gum held medicinal value. They also reveal a sophisticated taxonomic understanding developed over tens of thousands of years.
Hopper also provides fascinating examples of how eucalypt trees were modified by First Nations people for cultural purposes. ‘Tree-in-tree’ plantings honoured those who had passed. ‘Water trees’ provided reservoirs of refreshment in a dry country. Ceremonial trees were cultivated over generations, using careful horticultural practices.

Natural History and science

Western science has studied eucalypts for just two centuries, and Hopper introduces us to the early years of competition and intrigue. The genus was named in 1788 by Charles L’Heritier – an ‘impertinent and dangerous’ Frenchman – who was later murdered. Eucalypt taxonomy has since grown to encompass 900 species across four genera, further complicated by subspecies and hybridisation.
The ecological diversity is staggering: from alpine Snow Gums to desert mallees to forest giants exceeding 100 metres. Hopper traces their co-evolution with pollinators, predators and dispersers, and their remarkable adaptations to Australia’s poor soils and fire-shaped landscapes.

Growing, using and conserving eucalypts

But eucalypts are no longer just an Australian thing. Hoppers takes us from garden plantings overseas in the late 1700s, to today where eucalypts are the most widely grown hardwood on Earth. Their commercial value – in timber, paper, honey and medicinal oils – is immense. But some species are now weeds in places like Madagascar. In California, some people assume they are native!
But 23% of eucalypt species are now threatened. Hopper closes with conservation challenges and success stories, including species once thought extinct, but rediscovered by chance.

Eucalyptus is an enlightening and generous book. Concluding with a eucalypt timeline, detailed reference list and bibliography, as well as thorough indexing, it succeeds in its aim to advance our understanding about how we might care for and manage eucalypts into the future.

– Fiona Murdoch