Coolabah Tree Eucalyptus coolabah. Photo by Robert Whyte.

Eucalyptus Coolabah

The Dig Tree is Eucalyptus coolabah, an iconic indigenous Australian tree.

This species grows in the dry northern and central interior of Australia. It is a sentinel of permanent or non-perennial watercourses, and also grows on floodplains.

The species is very hardy and individual trees, like the Dig Tree, can live for hundreds of years.

The name, “coolabah”, was first recorded by European settlers in 1885-90, either from the word, “gulaba”, the primary name used for tens of millennia in one of the Aboriginal languages; or “gulabaa” from another of the Aboriginal languages.

All three historic trees at the Dig Tree Reserve are Eucalyptus coolabah. Photo: Lee Beanland.