NELLIGEN landmark the Bushranger Tree was victim of a possible arson attack on Wednesday night.
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The partially hollow tree, named because it is believed to be that used to chain up bushranger brothers Thomas and John Clarke prior to their transportation to Sydney in 1867, was set aflame from the inside and substantially burnt.
Benny’s Nelligen Store proprietor Benny Housiaux said Nelligen resident Rosie McClelland saw the tree ablaze on the night.
She knocked on his door and woke him up so he rang the Nelligen Rural Fire Service, of which he is a member, and joined fellow volunteers Steve Colebrook, Ted Maidla and Stan Marchant in fighting the blaze.
“It took about three hours before we had it totally extinguished,” he said.
“We left at about 2.30am.”
He said there were no obvious signs the fire was deliberately lit.
“There was no one around at the time,” he said.
He said he was not aware of anyone notifying police.
“The hollow inside had been blocked off by bricks to prevent this sort of thing happening, but the bricks collapsed a few years ago,” he said.
Eighty-four-year-old Betty Heycox, who has lived in Nelligen since 1948, was upset that a Nelligen icon has suffered such damage.
“I remember when it was a green tree,” she said.
“It is shocking. It is terrible that we have people like this about the place.
“I hope they find out who did it.”