Tree theft sours

Manjimup Senior High School students attending the school’s Big Picture campus received a rude shock recently, discovering someone had stolen a lemon tree from the campus garden.

The theft was discovered on August 24, with staff and students estimating the stolen lemon tree was about 2m tall and saying thieves had watered the soil to make it easier to remove the tree.

Teacher Brad Hall said they had discovered tyre tracks, suggesting that the tree had been removed with the assistance of a vehicle.

The tree was part of a horticulture project being created by Year 12 student Bailey Pollard, who said he was shocked to learn the tree had been stolen.

“I just thought about how it would affect my project,” he said.

“It will also affect me because I’ve volunteered my time on the weekends and holidays to come and do the chooks and the vegetables.”

Educational assistant Vikki Shields said the theft had made the students feel unsafe.

“Thinking that somebody came into their school and stole their work, a few of the students couldn’t believe it,” she said.

Mr Hall said the theft was disappointing.

“What we do here with the kids is project-based and it is a lot of hands-on learning and we don’t have a significant budget, so we try and make do with whatever we can,” he said.

The Manjimup Community Resource Centre donated three new trees.