This collage belongs to my ‘Recovering forests as metaphors’ series, a visual tribute to the fierce resilience of Australia’s native flora. It centres on the striking ghost gum, an apparition in white that first stopped me in my tracks during a 1970s road trip to Cunnamulla in Queensland where I lead a remote Aboriginal Health Program team. Decades later, the mesmerizing, ghostly brilliance of that outback trunk has never faded—it remains etched in my memory, and this artwork is my attempt to capture that glowing stillness.