It is sad to report that Townsville's Giant of Sustainability-Billy Bombax - looks as if he is about to hand in his chips and could be clear felled , a popular Queensland pastime . The black canker that has been eating away at him, resulting in the amputation of several limbs, appears unstoppable . Viewed from the above angle, he looks like a confused circus elephant waving his trunk about for a handful of Kingaroy peanuts or a CWA scone . An earlier photograph of his afflicted black , below, included three limbs which have since been cut off .
The latest snap taken at the weekend during a visit to Anderson Botanic Gardens illustrated Billy's sad situation .
Somehow, the plight of the great arborial warrior, intended to be an inspiration to schoolchildren to help save the planet, has escaped the attention of the Townsville media .
It seems no reporters stroll in the parks or venture near the waterfront . As a result , they miss out on many, many stories , as our Shipping Reporter repeatedly points out . No reporter has noticed that a huge portrait of Australia's first Catholic saint overlooking one of the city's main streets is fading away , that public clocks tell the wrong time , that care and maintenance of war memorials is neglected in the city .
Stoic Billy still has stiff , slightly droopy upper lip ,despite cuts.
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It seems no reporters stroll in the parks or venture near the waterfront . As a result , they miss out on many, many stories , as our Shipping Reporter repeatedly points out . No reporter has noticed that a huge portrait of Australia's first Catholic saint overlooking one of the city's main streets is fading away , that public clocks tell the wrong time , that care and maintenance of war memorials is neglected in the city .
Not far from poor old BB is the above bower bird nest containing an assortment of plastic bits and pieces inside and out . They are not so colourful as usual, probably due to all the mud spread about the suburbs during the flood earlier this year .