RED TINGLE
Red tingle (Eucalyptus jacksonii) is a spectacular forest giant found in a restricted area of the Warren region, famous for their enormous buttressed base. There are also two other species of tingle, Rate's and yellow tingle (Eucalyptus brevistylis and Eucalyptus guilfoylei) but only red tingle reaches enormous size. The first national park in the area was set up in 1924, the region already noted for the ornamental red flowering gum (Corymbia ficifolia) and its high densities of unique orchids. In 2004 the Walpole Wilderness Area was established as a biodiversity hotspot, protecting this unique habitat. Information obtained from Walpole Parks and Wildlife estimate original red tingle forest at around 30 km². About 20 km² remains, fully protected from logging and managed by the department to preserve this unique habitat. The red tingle forest was never extensively logged due to its tiny range and isolation despite red tingle timber being of exceptional quality, similar to jarrah but difficult to work with. Their enormous size, often burnt out at the base would make felling them safely difficult. Jarrah was much more abundant and easier to handle in the mills.
The small town of Walpole is where you head to start your tingle experience. Busloads of tourists make the 1000 km, 15 hour round trip from Perth to the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk experience. I like to make my way down through Pemberton to loiter around there first before heading to Walpole spending a few days cruising the deserted tracks hunting for giants. There was previously a famous red tingle which I'll call Giant Tingle, tourists over the decades would visit and photograph and often park their vehicle in the hollow at its base, such was its size. By 1990 Giant Tingle had collapsed, red tingle have sensitive roots to soil compression. There was also a massive increase in visitor numbers in 1990 as the interstate highway was fully sealed and domestic airline ticket prices dropped substantially through deregulation. The government recognised the need for better conservation and a plan was envisioned. In 1996 the area was reopened with the incredible 40 m high, 600 m long Tree Top Walk on one side. The Ancient Empire Walk, with the remnants of Giant Tingle collapsed, but still partially standing on the other side. The main entrance with an eco-gift shop is in the middle. Luckily another huge red tingle, Hollow Trunk was found by a farmer on his property in 1952, 10 km closer to Walpole. The land was eventually purchased becoming Walpole-Nornalup National Park, and the short Giant Tree Loop trail was established and is a wonderful experience with another massive red tingle, Old Rusty on this trail too, along with other gnarly giants.
The small town of Walpole is where you head to start your tingle experience. Busloads of tourists make the 1000 km, 15 hour round trip from Perth to the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk experience. I like to make my way down through Pemberton to loiter around there first before heading to Walpole spending a few days cruising the deserted tracks hunting for giants. There was previously a famous red tingle which I'll call Giant Tingle, tourists over the decades would visit and photograph and often park their vehicle in the hollow at its base, such was its size. By 1990 Giant Tingle had collapsed, red tingle have sensitive roots to soil compression. There was also a massive increase in visitor numbers in 1990 as the interstate highway was fully sealed and domestic airline ticket prices dropped substantially through deregulation. The government recognised the need for better conservation and a plan was envisioned. In 1996 the area was reopened with the incredible 40 m high, 600 m long Tree Top Walk on one side. The Ancient Empire Walk, with the remnants of Giant Tingle collapsed, but still partially standing on the other side. The main entrance with an eco-gift shop is in the middle. Luckily another huge red tingle, Hollow Trunk was found by a farmer on his property in 1952, 10 km closer to Walpole. The land was eventually purchased becoming Walpole-Nornalup National Park, and the short Giant Tree Loop trail was established and is a wonderful experience with another massive red tingle, Old Rusty on this trail too, along with other gnarly giants.
The above image shows typical red tingle bark. Very similar to jarrah bark, but redder and vertical, with soft, narrower stringybark strips. Red tingle also have more burls and tend to be considerably larger than jarrah where they grow. The region's climate is warm and humid with annual rainfall between 1150-1250 mm but has been declining in recent years. Red tingle grows best in well drained loam or sandy loam soils. The trees can live to 400 years and are noted for their massive, usually hollow bases.
With a dense understory, there is a lot of cover for animals to hide in the tingle forest. Plant litter, known as duff, is extensively produced from the massive red tingles. Sword sedge, (Lepidosperma effusum) commonly called sword grass is known to easily slice skin, even when moving carefully through the forest. I can attest to this and recommend gloves if you plan to tree hunt in tingle country. As a result of good cover, predators such the western quoll, known as the chuditch, (Dasyurus geoffroii) may also be present, and the highly venomous dugite snake, (Pseudonaja affinis) so hiking boots is a must.
With a dense understory, there is a lot of cover for animals to hide in the tingle forest. Plant litter, known as duff, is extensively produced from the massive red tingles. Sword sedge, (Lepidosperma effusum) commonly called sword grass is known to easily slice skin, even when moving carefully through the forest. I can attest to this and recommend gloves if you plan to tree hunt in tingle country. As a result of good cover, predators such the western quoll, known as the chuditch, (Dasyurus geoffroii) may also be present, and the highly venomous dugite snake, (Pseudonaja affinis) so hiking boots is a must.
Some online and official sources cite that red tingle can reach 70-75 m in height. This is vastly off, the source was a guess from a botanist over a century ago and it has stuck somehow. I've measured around 50 of the biggest red tingle and the tallest I've measured with a laser is exactly 50 m, from a younger, undamaged healthy specimen, with a nearby similar tree next at 48 m tall. Most don't reach to 40 m, but many of the signs at the tourist sites still claim 75 m as maximum height! I've talked to Walpole Parks and Wildlife about this over the years but got nowhere. Since Rowan on our last few visits has noticed tourists photographing the signs which claim these heights, I feel this is poor misinformation. I pursued this and got an extensive email of various studies which mention these heights. Almost all simply stated 70 m with no source, they were just repeating the same old quote! One recent study actually measured some red tingles with lasers and upon further investigation from a close source a height of just over 60 m was recorded, but then rounded up to 70 m plus!! The laser in the study used tangent method, which I first used on my laser. When I first measured the Corymbia Giant's height, I got 71 m and was thrilled. Within a year I had researched and got feedback from fellow tree hunters online that sine method is the more accurate metric to use on lasers for tree height. I set my laser to sine and went back to the Corymbia Giant and got 54 m, that was the difference in accuracy! While I would be thrilled if the measured red tingle in the study was ~60 m, I suspect it is more likely under 50 m.
The above image is of the 50 m tall red tingle I measured in 2020 off Brainy Cut Off road, yes that's the road's name! While not a giant, it's in great condition and the tallest red tingle from the hundred I've measured since 2013 when I switched to sine method over tangent for my laser. The next tallest red tingle is just down this road as well, at 48 m tall and of similar size.
Red tingles are also mentioned on several online sites as the largest Eucalyptus in circumference at BH (breast height, 1.4 m) due to the girth of Hollow Trunk at over 22 m. Whilst technically true this tree is exceptional for a red tingle. Mature mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) found in south eastern Australia are usually greater in circumference than mature red tingle and there are several currently in Tasmania just over 20 m in circumference at BH and more historical images far larger, even close to 30 m in circumference at BH from Victoria in the late 19th century! They can be double the size of karri and red tingle with El Grande, estimated at 439 m³ total volume before its demise in 2003, and the recently discovered Wayatinah Titan measured by Brett is around 490 m³ total volume making these eucalypts some of the largest trees on earth, certainly outside of California US.
Red tingle also have hefty and often damaged branch structures adding to their overall gnarl factor, a tree term used to describe interesting growths, deformities and injuries in trees. The general shape and appearance of a tree can be termed its character. The more unusual the appearance the greater the character. Red tingles have a lot of gnarl factor and character! The crowns are generally heavily damaged on mature trees with significant broken limbs appearing like giant bones reaching up to the sky. Their stringybark is a reddish colour with mature trees dotted with sometimes very large burls or other deformities on the trunk. This is caused by extensive lightning strikes, fungal damage, and insect attacks. The trees have evolved to cope with these hardships, and resilient old specimens have extensive damage from top to bottom, showing tremendous individual character and gnarl factor, some enduring beasts appearing more dead than living!
Red tingle also have hefty and often damaged branch structures adding to their overall gnarl factor, a tree term used to describe interesting growths, deformities and injuries in trees. The general shape and appearance of a tree can be termed its character. The more unusual the appearance the greater the character. Red tingles have a lot of gnarl factor and character! The crowns are generally heavily damaged on mature trees with significant broken limbs appearing like giant bones reaching up to the sky. Their stringybark is a reddish colour with mature trees dotted with sometimes very large burls or other deformities on the trunk. This is caused by extensive lightning strikes, fungal damage, and insect attacks. The trees have evolved to cope with these hardships, and resilient old specimens have extensive damage from top to bottom, showing tremendous individual character and gnarl factor, some enduring beasts appearing more dead than living!
Hollows caused by burns or rot are traditionally restored in volume calculations. The reason behind this that these injuries are random acts of nature and may be restored. This is normally not an issue, while many older trees do have hollows (which many animals utilise), they are small compared to the overall volume of a mature tree. The problem with some red tingles is that their hollows can be utterly enormous, Hollow Trunk being the famous, obvious example. To restore Hollow Trunk’s missing volume gives it the most volume of all the red tingles I have measured and the second biggest tree in the Southwest after The Tyrant. Over the years I have discussed the issue of restoring Hollow Trunk with others, mainly Brett who like me believes it should be removed from my top ten. The reason is there's simply too much restoring which, despite my best efforts to me accurate can't be proven. Anyone could attempt to restore the missing space and get vastly different results, simply because there is so much vast space to restore!
So to sum up, Old Rusty and Big Red are easily the biggest red tingles I have come across in actual wood volume and Hollow Trunk becomes the biggest in restored potential volume, maybe. Enjoy them all!
So to sum up, Old Rusty and Big Red are easily the biggest red tingles I have come across in actual wood volume and Hollow Trunk becomes the biggest in restored potential volume, maybe. Enjoy them all!
HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS
For the last few years I had Hollow Trunk as the largest red tingle, with the explanation that restoring missing trunk volume was considered acceptable. However, I was never comfortable with that due to the considerable estimations involved in recreating what the full base of Hollow Trunk may have had. As seen below, it's not just a simple few cubic metres of volume to restore, we're talking around 100 m³ on a slope, and guessing how much the base may have been, in an imagined circular arc of many metres! Although I'm sure that Hollow Trunk did at some stage have a solid base, it was discovered in the 1950s pretty much exactly as it is currently, so the hollow has probably been as is for at least the last 100 years. Out of interest, my restored measurements for Hollow Trunk was a current DBH of 7 m to ~8 m. I measured a restored trunk volume of 214.2 m³ and limbs 2.6 m³, for a restored total volume of 216.8 m³. However well over 100 m³ is empty space.
This image of Hollow Trunk is from 2023. It clearly shows to vast empty space and the problems with accurate volume restorations, even though this view shows the width on both sides. For the above stated reasons, I've moved Hollow Trunk to historical accounts, to join his other famous friend to be admired in this section instead of the top ten.
The only red tingle I have come across from the past that rivals the current living red tingles is the collapsed Giant Tingle. This red tingle has a few historic images with vehicles in its hollow from previous decades in various states of deterioration. You can tell the decade the picture was taken by the type of vehicle in it! It was certainly gigantic and a near twin of Hollow Trunk. I think if its volume was restored it would've been amongst the biggest. I've done a rough volume estimation based on the below images. I have Giant Tingle as about 180 m³ in trunk volume and 10 m³ in limbs for a restored potential total volume of 190 m³. However Giant Tingle's trunk at 15 m is snapped off, it may have continued for many metres, potentially adding tens of cubic metres in trunk and limb volume. However, just like with Hollow Trunk, there's too much speculation involved in restoring a potential total volume, although, if pushed I would be confident both had the potential to reach 200 m³ in total volume.
This image of Giant Tingle from 1963 shows almost the whole tree visible, the only full view I could find. As can be seen it's even more hollow than Hollow Trunk! The main trunk is snapped off at around 15 m in height where it looks around 2 m in width, about the same dimensions as Hollow Trunk. It was slightly smaller at the base becoming slightly wider above 5 m where I record both trees at 3.3 m in width. Image is produced with permission from the State Library of Western Australia.
This image of Giant Tingle is from the 1930s and gives a good view of its width at the base. It was a little smaller than Hollow Trunk but still pretty impressive! I estimate Giant Tingle was 7 m in width at ZG, and 6 m in DBH. It looks to slope .5 m BZG which adds up to 10 m³ in restored volume. Image is reproduced with permission from the State Library of Western Australia.
Nate kindly gave me GPS directions to this beast, another red tingle more dead than alive, but still clinging to life with several upper canopy limbs. This unnamed red tingle is around 5.8 m in DBH, and an example of some of the problems trying to restore giant tingles, or even get a DBH! As a guess, I think if intact this beast would have got to around the 150 m³ mark for total volume at least, and probably a bit more!
I have found some downed giants on hikes and some huge hollowed diameters of up to 6 m, but not enough left to really tell how big they were. These relics are still dotted around the bush in their various states of decay. It's likely due to the tiny distribution that when the first settlers came and started clearing, they left the very biggest which is what we currently have, Giant Tingle being the first large tree identified, and later Hollow Trunk in the 1950s. Having said that, speaking to locals they believe there are giants still lurking out there!
TOP TEN RED TINGLE
TOP TEN RED TINGLE
