🔵 Why are the trees dying?
Plus: Hendo's home and Hawkesbury mangroves.
Huw Bradshaw
February 20, 2026
⏱️ The 82nd edition of our newsletter is a five-minute read.
🌅 Morning all,
I’ve been writing a lot in recent days about trees and the people who care about them. No, not the Lorax — arborists.
They are a fun, incredibly interesting bunch.
Despite the fact you might associate them with the revving of chainsaws, all the arborists I’ve spoken to respect and care about trees more than most.
Now, some are concerned that cowboys in the industry are giving them a bad rep. You can read the full story below.
Let’s get into the news for this week.
HEARD THIS WEEK👂
🪓 Developers are “arborist-shopping”, so they can get on with tree chopping
Across the North Shore, illegal removal and poisoning of trees in recent years has been rampant. In the last year alone, Ku-ring-gai Council has investigated 717 alleged breaches relating to trees, including illegal removal and suspected poisonings.
While the state government has begun to move on illegal clearing — proposing increased fines and penalties — local arborists claim that legal loopholes pose an equally significant risk to trees.
Read the full story below.
🎥 Legendary newsreader Brian Henderson’s former Middle Cove pile on the market
Once home to Australian television royalty Brian Henderson and his wife Mardi, a bayside Middle Cove property has been listed for sale.
The 1,797-square-metre property was bought by the Hendersons for $850,000 in 1994. They knocked down the existing house and commissioned architect Mike Macauley to design a new five-bedroom home, with broad sliding glass doors offering views over the surrounding bushland.
From 1957, Henderson was the face and voice of Channel Nine’s evening news bulletin in Sydney for 45 consecutive years. He also hosted music program Bandstand from the late 1950s to the early 1970s.
Henderson retired from presenting in 2002.
Read the full article below.
🦪 More about oysters?
Here’s why I was spending so much time up at the Hawkesbury earlier this week. Watch me squat down among mangroves and crabs to explain why oysters — and their farmers — understand the environment so well, and why we should be listening to them.
LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀
💬 “I feel like I’m talking to a school child…”
Australian science communicator, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, appeared at a Senate inquiry investigating misinformation on climate change and energy on Monday evening.
In it, Kruszelnicki was asked questions by One Nation’s Senator Malcolm Roberts, who pressed the doctor on the definition of scientific terms.
Kruszelnicki turned the mic back onto the Queensland Senator, asking, “Do you agree that the last 10 years have been the hottest years on record, worldwide?”
Roberts disagreed, to which Kruszelnicki replied:
That’s all from me.
Got a story tip? An unsolved mystery? A notable local? Hit reply or reach out at [email protected].
Cheers,
Huw
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