Casuarina cunninghamiana (River Oak, River She-Oak)

Wiradjuri: bilawi

Will Rodgers recorded this track at Yabtree West, Mundarlo, New South Wales, Australia on 21 September 2024. He writes: I pitched my tent with a view of a magnificent River Oak (Casuarina cunninghamiana). I had never seen such a large specimen – on the river flats it had grown to an immense girth, almost challenging even some of the River Red Gums for size. Uncle James told us its name in Wiradjuri is ‘bilawi’ and explained the major role it played in the creation story of the Marrambidya (Murrumbidgee River). I felt a huge affinity with this tree and made many recordings beneath its whispering branches. This was recorded on a windy day when the south-westerlies were blowing a gale down to the riverbank. You can almost hear the roar of ocean waves in the pulse of the wind through the River Oak’s needles. This is an unedited longform recording on a Zoom H6 using both the aboveground XYH-6 X/Y mic capsule and the LOM Geofón nestled in the roots of the tree. SEE ADDITIONAL NOTES BELOW

Images: Will Rodgers

Casuarina cunninghamiana, (River Oak or River She-oak), is a tall, fast-growing tree native to eastern Australia and southern New Guinea, particularly along freshwater rivers and streams in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria. It thrives in alluvial soils and is often found stabilizing riverbanks, where its dense root system helps prevent erosion. The tree typically reaches 15–35 metres in height, with a trunk diameter of 0.5–1.5 metres. It has a pyramidal crown in youth, becoming more open and spreading with age. The bark is dark brown, rough, and deeply fissured, while the foliage consists of drooping, jointed, needle-like branchlets (cladodes) that function as leaves. True leaves are reduced to tiny scale-like teeth arranged in whorls of 6–10 at the joints. C. cunninghamiana is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees: males form slender spikes at branchlet tips, while females produce small, rounded cones that release winged seeds (samaras) in autumn. Ecologically, River Oak is vital for riparian habitat restoration, offering shade, erosion control, and habitat for birds and insects. Its hardwood is valued for fuel, fencing, and construction, and the tree is also used in windbreaks and shelterbelts. Its ability to fix nitrogen through symbiosis with Frankia bacteria enhances soil fertility, making it a useful species in degraded landscapes.

iNaturalist

Additional recording information

This is a list of species, elements and anthropogenic sounds positively identified that contribute their voices to this piece.

Birds:
Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus)
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)
Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris)
Straited Pardalote (Pardaloyus striatus)
Crimson Rosella (Platycerus elegans)
White-throated Treecreeper (Cormobates leucophaea)
Willy Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)

Elements:
Wind in conversation with needles of the River Oak
Soil vibrations of branches and trunk moving in the wind

Will Rodgers online