Looking battered and down in the mouth -with justification - is well known Townsville identity ,Billy Bombax, the so called genial Giant of Sustainability in Anderson Park Botanic Gardens .Why is he so downcast?
Poor old Billy has had another limb chopped from his trunk and is rotting away in places , becoming unbalanced , showing signs of terrible disfigurement .
Be warned, the following before and after photographs are disturbing and if viewed by children could give them nightmares . Thankfully , the local media , as usual , failed to pick up this important, long running story , so the public are unaware of the sad condition of this fine old fellow who means so much to the nearby Mundingburra State School, a pupil responsible for naming him . .
Last year, Little Darwin exclusively reported that there appeared to be a nasty canker growing on his back . Since then , it has expanded , and on Mother's Day , this was the pitiful sight , below , presented to the public , especially impressionable , unsuspecting children walking in the park on his trail .
It reveals another limb had been removed with a chainsaw , the black plague canker , bigger , some of it under his armpit and elsewhere , crumbling , pieces on the ground .
The prognosis is not good when you view Billy from the side ; he is a shadow of his former happy , healthy self when compared with the nearby sign .
