The Ancients: Discovering the world's oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania

by Andrew Darby

In The Ancients Andrew Darby goes on a journey to find the world's oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania. He tells of their exploitation and loss to fire even as their true value was revealed, and of the people offering hope for their future.

In wild Tasmania there are trees whose direct ancestors lived with dinosaurs. Many of those alive today are thousands of years old, and some have been growing for ten millennia or more. They are mostly hard to reach, hidden in forest valleys or on remote mountains, survivors of human greed and fire.

Prize-winning nature writer Andrew Darby takes us on an island odyssey to discover the world's oldest surviving trees. First, he seeks the little-known King's Lomatia, perhaps the oldest single tree of all. Then the primeval King Billy, Pencil and Huon pines - with their vivid stories of admiration and destruction - and the majestic giant eucalypts. Finally, he looks at the 'mother tree', the Myrtle Beech, and Australia's only endemic winter deciduous tree, the golden Fagus.

On his journey he shares the stories of the people who identified the ancients - scientists and nature-lovers who teased out their secrets and came to venerate them. Lacking defences to fire, these awe-inspiring trees face growing threats as the climate changes. But their protection is becoming more sophisticated, offering hope for their future - and ours.

'The quiet magnificence of nature is reflected in the lyrical elegance of Darby's prose.' - Jonathan Green, ABC Radio's Blueprint for Living

'The Ancients will be relished by anyone who cares about the extraordinary island of Tasmania' - Nicholas Shakespeare, novelist and biographer

'A thrilling reminder of our good fortune in having these living monuments of deep time on our doorstep' - Sydney Morning Herald

'The Ancients threads together colonial history, personal reflections and conservation campaigns to deepen our appreciation of our "ancient" backyard. Darby's experiences communing alone with these colossal beings often provide the book's most enriching education on the sheer force of these wild elders.' - Saturday Paper

'Beautifully-crafted' - The Mercury

Genres: Tasmania, Nonfiction, Environment, Nature

Kindle Edition

Published March 4, 2025

Reviews

[Tilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, but I really felt as though the quality decreased throughout the second half of the book. Instead of being a book of the ancients, it felt like a repetitive book about fire ecology. I might just be biased since fire ecology isn’t my passion, but after the beautifully written, gripping first half of the book, I felt a bit let down.

[Tim O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lyrical and fascinating book about the ancient endemic trees of Tasmania. Anyone who has hiked in the highlands of Tassie will recognise the passion Darky has for these rare and threatened trees and perahps even know the places or, at times, the individual trees he refers to. The depth of historical and botantical detail he gives in between his descriptions of his hikes will help anyone who has encountered these trees appreciate them all the more.

The heartbreaking part of this book is how threatened they are by a changing climate and, as a result, by fire. Years of protests and political action mean many of them are, finally, protected by national parks. But most of the massive mountain ash giants are outside of reserves and still endangered by logging and increasingly frequent wildfires don't respect the boundaries of national parks. The descriptions of pencil pines that were seedlings in the early Middle Ages being burned by fires lit by dry lightning strikes thanks to Global Warming or the near misses of stands of King Billy Pines or even more ancient Huon Pines are difficult reading.

The ignorance of many Tasmanians about the riches of their own state is also worrying. I had people on social media in 2018 assuring me that these trees will just "grow back" and refusing to believe that fire simply kills them. I've also had people tell me recently that they wished the Gordon below Franklin dam had been built in 1983, drowning about 80% of all Huon Pines. Protecting these treasures is seen as simply annoying "Greenies" standing in the way of "jobs and development".

This is a great book for anyone who knows Tasmania and its remarkable ancient trees and reading it will give a new perspective for any hiker who comes across a stand of King Billys or sees a twisted old Pencil Pine through the mist.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s easy to look at what seem to be vast expanses of forest from the airplane window as you come in to land at Hobart and think that the great conservation battle has been fought and won. This wonderful book shows that nothing could be further from the truth. The Ancients are a group of plants that grow nowhere else in the world. They are extraordinary for their age, size or extreme rarity. And they are under constant threat. Early settlers burnt, logged and mined. Logging is still a real and constant threat. But that pales to the threat of climate change that creates an environment ripe for burning and rendering the Ancients extinct. Despite this, Andrew has written a book that ends with hope. There are many people passionate in their commitment to ensuring future generations get to walk through this extraordinary land.

[Lauren Makepeace · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening and passionately-written specimen, The Ancients explores the history surrounding some of the world's oldest trees of Tasmania.
Darby has put in the hard yards, trekking Tasmania, and talking to everybody in the business of caring for trees and the land - although I dare say the term 'hard' might be more accurately given as 'rewarding'. I don't doubt that there were hardships in this quest, given the nature of Tasmanian walking 'trails', but a language of love shines through.
It was a thrill to have the words of so many modern and historical figures spread throughout the pages - especially those miners, loggers, political figures, and amateur ecologists who came before. The term 'amateur' implies they were somehow less than, and I shall clarify that I only mean they had another means of income, because the way Darby tells it, these amateurs had a wealth of knowledge that many modern bushwalkers could only dream of.
It was rather enjoyable to see the thoughts of two of my university lecturers on the page - Jamie Kirkpatrick, and Kevin Kiernan - human beings whose love for the natural environment was immediately obvious upon hearing them speak. I had the pleasure of a trip to Mt Field with Kevin and fellow students, which was a memorable experience.
The book at times is, understandably bleak, with tales of poorly managed logging and fire, although the overall message is that things are improving (in terms of management, the pressure of climate change still rears it's ugly head). It has inspired me to reach further, in the push to explore less walked paths, and to appreciate glimpses of these odes to the past more deeply.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read of ancient trees in Tasmania - King Lomatia, King Billy, Pencil and Houn pines, Myrtle Beech, golden Fagus, Eucalyptus varieties, some alive today thousands of years old and some have been growing for ten millennia or more.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about trees in my wonderful home state, I did find the earlier chapters more enjoyable and readable. So wasn’t left on a high when finishing this one.

[notttttttth · Rating 4 out of 5]

excelente pero mucha historia fome de repente