It’s a great playground for their eight-year-old twins and a wonderful source of bush tucker as well.

When the Bunya Pines in the reserve fruited prolifically at the beginning of the year, the family ate almost nothing but the protein-rich, flavourful nuts for two months.

“We were pulling the cones apart, processing them, cooking with them. It’s a big family thing,” Michael said.

“They taste delicious. If you can imagine a potato, brown rice and a chestnut put together, that’s what it is.”

Michael believes the Bunya Pines, which are endemic to southeastern Queensland and celebrated for their summertime abundance by Indigenous people, could be a critical asset if we face a time of food scarcity in the future.

That’s why when his kids told him one of the Bunya Pines in the reserve had been cut back to a stump, and another had all of its branches removed, he started making enquiries, initially on Facebook and then at Bellingen Shire Council.

He said Phil Buchan, Manager Asset Management and Design, told him the council was acting on the advice of their insurers to escape possible liability from damages caused to people or property by the falling cones.

“It seems the council were only looking at two options: to cut down the cones before they fell, which would involve an ongoing expense, or cut down the trees,” Michael said. 

“So they decided to cut down the trees. Other councils in other places, as I’ve since learned, put up signs. Or barricades.” 

Michael agrees that the cones, which can be as big as watermelons and weigh up to 10kg, do pose a danger.

“Obviously they can kill people. They’re massive, and they’re spiky.”

But he said it’s usually obvious when a cone is coming down.

“When they fall, they tend to hit the branches on the way down. You generally hear it, there’s plenty of warning. I’ve always told my kids just to be very careful. To walk around them and not walk underneath them.”

He said it was disrespectful to whoever planted the trees to cut them down without consulting with the community beforehand.

“Things like this are an important resource, and it’s part of the reason that I moved to Bellingen. It’s a good food-producing region and that gives me a sense of security.”

“A lot of us guerilla plant native edibles, and you become concerned that the work you do today, if there’s not this culture of respecting these trees, then what’s to say someone’s not going to just chop it down because some neighbour complained?”

The Courier-Sun approached Bellingen Shire Council on Monday morning for comment and was promised a reply which as yet has not eventuated.

However, Cr Jennie Fenton did respond unofficially to Michael’s post on Facebook:

“Okay apparently 3 (of 8 or 9 in that reserve) have to go due to being over a house, a children’s centre and a path but not the rest. Mayor Dominic King has had initial discussions with staff about how to better consult about these issues, as from time to time trees do need to be taken down.”