La Gerche Ponderosa Pine Doormat

If you walk the La Gerche Trail in Creswick, Australia, you will find these beautiful Ponderosa Pine trees. The La Gerche Trail is named after John La Gerche who was born in 1845 on the island of Jersey, 14 miles from the French coast. He immigrated to Australia from London in 1865. In 1882 he worked for the Department of Lands and his job was to supervise the Ballarat and Creswick State Forest, to enforce regulations against the illegal cutting of timber. Not long after commencing in this role, he began repairing the Creswick Forest and planted over 19,000 trees including these Ponderosa Pines.