I first saw a slide of Acacia peuce about 10 years ago and wondered whether I would ever visit the reserve at Andado Station, on the edge of the Simpson Desert, where the photograph was taken. It is an interesting tree with a pine-like appearance, which apparently accounts for the specific name. Its common name is Waddi or Waddywood.

It is usually a stately tree, but can sometimes look rather shaggy. It often grows to more than 15 metres tall with dark, pendulous branchlets. In the two places where I have seen it growing in the wild - open sandy or rocky places - it has been the only outstanding plant, with low dry groundcover plants at intervals around it.

It has grey, fissured bark. The phyllodes are generally about 10cm long and narrow, but individual ones can be up to 30cm long. The breadth is only about a millimetre, decurrent at the base with slightly pointed tips.

I have not seen the flowers, but am told they are large golden yellow balls about a centimetre in diameter. The seed pods are most remarkable, averaging 15cm x 0.4cm with thickened margins. The seeds are large and oval-shaped.

The tree is long-lived and slow growing. It is rare and considered in danger of extinction. It is estimated that mature trees could be up to 500 years old. Until recently, the mature timber was valued in the desert areas as fence posts and building timber; so a definite effort has been needed to protect the species. The tree grows in three areas:

&Mac183; north of Birdsville, Queensland - where it is locally common;
&Mac183; south of Boulia, Queensland - where it grows over 100 square kilometres; and
&Mac183; on Andado Station in the Northern Territory.

I first saw it growing north of Birdsville on a very rough, rocky area with trees scattered at perhaps 100-200 metre intervals. It was a rather depressing scene overall, as there was dead acacia wood everywhere and no regrowth. Many people seem to camp on this spot judging by the campfire ashes, and Acacia peuce provides the firewood.

The wood is extremely hard and of a most attractive dark tone. On my bookshelf is a small piece of branch cut with a small hacksaw. It has not been sanded or processed in any way, but the cut surface looks as though it has been french-polished. Some say it is the hardest of the Australian acacia woods; although I would say that Acacia tetragonophylla (Dead Finish) is almost as dense.

The second place where I saw Acacia peuce was just east of North Bore and north of Hubbard Hill on Andado Station, about 50km north of Old Andado Station, a spot passed by Madigan on his 1939 expedition across the Simpson Desert. One report says that there are 1000 mature trees here spread over 10 square kilometres, but I did not get the impression that there were so many.

In any case, here is the Mac Clark Acacia Peuce Reserve, named for Mac Clark who came to Andado Station in 1955 and died there in 1978, from a heart attack after his plane crashed on the property. His widow, Molly Clark, has restored Old Andado Station homestead as an authentic 1920s station homestead and can provide comfort in the desert, in cabins and camping area, for those who feel in need. It is very interesting to visit there. You can sit in the quiet living area, studying the old photographs, and easily imagine yourself in the world of 70 years ago. The photographs of the floods are particularly relevant to my present subject.

The Reserve is fenced against rabbits and other undesirable creatures and, compared to the Birdsville site, gives a feeling of optimism. Not only are there truly stately mature trees, but around some of them, as a respectful distance, are a broken circle of their young offspring. Regrowth comes only after exceptionally heavy rain. In this case, the record-breaking rains of 1974 brought about the first regeneration of A. peuce ever seen by Europeans in this area, and it may be hundreds of years before it can happen again.

The third area where A. peuce grows, I travelled through in 1970. As this was in the days before botanical information was readily available, I did not identify it then, although I may have seen it.

Even if you are unable to see A. peuce growing in these three out-of-the-way places, do not despair. There is a chance to see it in comfort. Many people visit Alice Springs. Just about a kilometre south of the Public Library, but on the other side of the Todd River, is the very interesting Olive Pink Flora Sanctuary, and there, near the Visitors Centre A. peuce trees are flourishing.

It is a long way to travel from the capital cities to the home territory of A. peuce, but botanically it is a fascinating journey, whether seeing the seas of wildflowers after rain, or perhaps a more exciting case - finding one small unknown flower in a rocky cranny in time of drought.