"We could begin with desertorum, common name Hooked Mallee. Its leaf tapers into a slender hook, and is normally found in semi-arid parts of the interior.

     But desertorum (to begin with) is only one of several hundred eucalypts; there is no precise number. And anyway the very word, desert-or-um, harks back to a stale version of the national landscape and from there in a more or less straight line onto the national character, all those linings of the soul and the larynx, which have their origins in the bush, so it is said, the poetic virtues (can you believe it?) of being belted about by droughts, bushfires, smelly sheep and so on; and let's not forget the isolation, the exhuasted shapeless women, the crude language, the always wide horizon, and the flies.

     It is these circumstances which have been responsible for all those extremely dry (dun-coloured--can we say that?) hard-luck stories which have been told around fires and on the page. All that was once upon a time, interesting for a while, but largely irrelevant here."

From Eucalyptus: A Novel by Murray Bail. Beginning of Chapter 1, Obliqua.

Collage pictures are of various covers to Eucalyptus collected from a number of websites.

Gardens in Literature: The Growing Trees in Eucalyptus

     According to the narrative voice in Murray Bail's Eucalyptus, and one must suspect if it's not Bail himself, "It is trees which compose a landscape."  Indeed, in this novel, trees shape the basis of the fairy-tale like, yet scientific story of Holland and his daughter Ellen.  The garden of plentiful eucalyptus trees serves the author well as a way to lead in to each of the chapters; the scientific name of a eucalyptus tree as the title is used as a paradigm of understanding for the rest of each chapter.  It is this main image in the story, and its way of shaping the context of the tale and the lives of the characters that put it at center stage for understanding the novel's message.  An analysis of certain source stories, all centered on gardens in other pieces of literature, will enhance a reading and study of Eucalyptus.

“Eucalyptus Diversicolor.” 8 April 2008. Wikipedia. 5 May 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_diversicolor>.

     In order to understand the placement of the trees in the story, it is first necessary to consider some of the ways in which trees and gardens have operated in literature before.  Foremost of these is the Biblical account of the first man and the first woman in the Garden of Eden.  God created Eden to sustain all life, in fact as an environment for His creation to thrive, and Adam, although created outside of the garden, was given dominion over all of it.  Now, in this garden God also placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which Adam was directly commanded not to eat from while Eve was only indirectly informed through Adam.  The serpent, being possessed by the fallen angel Lucifer, was able to deceive Eve into eating the apple, and Adam followed suit.  This disobedience to God’s command is the source of sin in the world, and the dominion of the Garden and even the world was handed to Satan on that day.

     While the Garden played a part in the entrance of sin into the world, it also plays a part in its redemption for, as God was leading Adam and Eve out into the wasteland beyond the garden gate, they saw the Tree of Life.  Flaming swords guarded this particular tree so that the first man and woman would not eat of it and live in their sin forever.  The Tree of Life, if not taken literally, is a Biblical symbol of the promised Messiah, believed by Christians to be fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.  While there is no apparent Christ figure in Eucalyptus, an understanding of this account is important for many reasons.

“Eucalyptus Todtiana.” 30 March 2008. Wikipedia. 5 May 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_todtiana>

     First of all, as a post-colonial novel, Eucalyptus attempts to establish a strong national Australian identity, while also trying to subvert it, but epic poems such as Paradise Lost, written by the British John Milton, come to mind while reading the novel.  Certainly, there is practical application here as the image of the eucalyptus garden is employed in the novel as a test for a proper suitor for Ellen.  The man who can name every single one of the trees will be the man to marry Ellen and so the trees become associated with sexual awakening.  This connects back to the Garden of Eden once more, especially in regards to the Catholic belief that Adam and Eve were only sexual beings after eating of the “forbidden fruit."

     It is no coincidence, then, that Ellen actually meets the man she loves amongst the trees.  This man, with whom she meets in secret, tells her many stories while a potential suitor continues to successfully categorize the trees before her father.  Interestingly enough, Holland warns her about men who can tell good stories, hinting at the idea that even story-telling can be and is seductive.  In the end, it is the wandering, ironically unnamed poet, who can't give the proper names of the eucalyptus trees, but can tell stories relating to their shape who wins Ellen.  Bail reveals that it's not enough to know the mind of things, but rather that the knowledge of the heart is important as well.

     It is in another Biblical account of a garden that we must investigate next.  While it may seem to be a stretch of Bail's intentions, the scene of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane is also important to an understanding of the story.  During the latter part of the novel, Ellen becomes grief-stricken due to the disappearance of her mysterious story-teller.  This is an obvious use of the classical concept of "love at first sight," which originated in Europe and was perfected by such British writers as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. The mechanics of falling in love, they believed, involved the idea that the light from one's body would shoot to the eyes of a lover, and this light would hit the brain, and travel down to the soul.  This idea of being imprinted to one another would cause physical sickness if the lovers were separated from one another.  And, once again, as a post-colonial novel, the use of such important concepts from British Literature suggests the intertwined history of Great Britain and Australia, a former British colony.

     Ellen certainly fulfills the "science" of "love at first sight" in the fairy-tale of Eucalyptus. She becomes sick, depressed, unable to speak to others, and bed-ridden.  All the while, the world around her continues, and her father and suitor come to her side to tend to her, similar to the way one might care for a tree.  The two men propose a solution that a story will jolt her from her sickened state, and the reader expects that the only person who will be able to do this is the mysterious bard.  It becomes necessary, therefore, to consider the first event in the eventual crucifixion of Christ—His betrayal.  The account in Matthew tells us of how Jesus came to pray while His disciples were to keep watch over the garden, and this was just after delivered the elements of the Last Supper as the marking of a renewed covenant between God and mankind.  Similarly, in Eucalyptus, Ellen falls into her deepest state of depression when her father informs her that the suitor, Mr. Cave, has named all of the trees.  Christ states, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me."  It would not be out of character for Ellen to say these exact words.

“Eucalyptus Marginata.” 1 April 2008. Wikipedia. 5 May 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_marginata>

“Eucalyptus Camaldulensis.” 31 January 2008. Wikipedia. 5 May 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_diversicolor>.

     In analysis of Bail’s story, one begins to see how organic the trees of the eucalyptus garden are.  This, in turn, reflects the growth that occurs in the story; as the trees grow, so does the story.  As the story grows, so do the trees.  There is some other practical knowledge about the trees that should also be considered when reflecting on the novel.  For instance, the suitors are as diverse as the number of trees in Holland’s garden, but they must name all of the trees accurately.  The idea of a suitor test is another concept derived from medieval Europe, and employed throughout the Renaissance literature of England.  Other such concepts are concerned with the hortus conclusus or the “enclosed garden” and the Quest for the Holy Grail, but Bail is Australian.  Having spent some time living in England, Bail would have picked up on many of these concepts, and he adopts them for a post-colonial novel by making them uniquely concerned with the island nation’s identity.  Trees also have roots, and in a functional sense, they ground the tree and provide nutrients to the part above ground.  What Bail might be suggesting here is that all of his characters, who are mostly flat, rely on the description of the trees in order for them to be dramatic and reliable.  The land and its inhabitants are one.

     The vital importance of the image of the garden and of its trees in literature has provided a worthy perspective on Bail’s Eucalyptus.  Upon completing the novel, the reader must arrive at the conclusion that the author grants power to the feminine character in the story, which is unlike most fairy-tales.  The reason for this assertion is based on the idea that Ellen is the one who finds the suitor, the one who beckons him back to the Holland manor.  This ending would not have been possible if it were not for the existence of Holland’s ambitious, yet quirky garden, so the image becomes the fountain in the middle of the courtyard that thirsty readers will come to in order to understand the plot, the characters, and their motivation.