“People who sign petitions also vote and people are now telling the State Government that they want the trees preserved through this petition.”

She says the gums are the last remnant specimens in the area, after the Government mowed down 66 along Mons Parade as part of the 2016 sky-rail project.

“It’s ironic that we have the stump of the tree in the station forecourt that Noble Park grew under and the beautiful mural that the council commissioned representing the birth of the river red gums in Mons Parade.

“And yet the State Government and the developer have done nothing to accommodate these magnificent species when ideally they just have to reconfigure the design to enhance that space.”

Greater Dandenong Council had submitted for a change of the apartments’ design so the trees could be preserved.

But according to the Government, it was “not feasible” to retain the trees without “substantially restricting” the development.

https://dandenong.starcommunity.com.au/news/2023-09-06/fury-grows-over-doomed-trees/