From Matt Tomkins.

This photo essay was originally published in the Mountain Journal magazine, 2025 edition, available here.

The last few winters I’ve become a bit obsessed with making trips to see the snow gums in  Baw Baw National Park.

Snow gums are beautiful trees. To see them at their best, you really need to be up there in winter. Streaked with incredibly vibrant reds, bronzes, oranges, and yellows and covered \with ice, their vivid colours and twisted forms stand out like flames against a snowy backdrop. It’s one of the most magical things about winter in the Australian Alps, and it’s a sight that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world.

I feel an increasing sense of urgency about making these trips.

Snow gum woodlands face two serious threats: fire, and snowgum dieback. Fires are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change, which snow gums are ill equipped to handle. Snow gum dieback, caused by a beetle that infests and consumes the trees, is decimating the woodlands. High country landscapes dotted with the skeletons of dead trees are a sobering reminder of this.

I’m afraid that the magical winter scenes I’ve been seeking out will become an increasingly rare sight as the trees die and the winters recede. That’s why I’ll be heading back this winter to see and document as much as I can.

Plenty of people know about the impact of climate change on places like the Great Barrier Reef, but there’s less awareness about the threats also faced by Australia’s unique alpine  landscapes. I hope that more and more people learn about these places, and that we mobilise our resources to protect these wonderful trees and landscapes.

Hopefully by sharing my images I can contribute, albeit in a small way, to raising awareness and helping people understand why we must save the snow gums.

Matt Tomkins: mattatomkins@gmail.com