They are called river red gums because they grow along rivers and their wood when freshly exposed is a bright red; almost blood-coloured. River red gums have been used by Indigenous people for ...

A river red gum may grow for anywhere between 400 and 1,000 years before it falls. And as it decomposes over centuries it becomes a home for new life. Murray cod lay their eggs in drowned red gums.

Sometimes, the combined waters of both rivers back up along the Murray, travelling for about 80 kilometres to a narrow section of the river called the Barmah Choke, and from there it spills out ...