With a couple of taps the seedling is free of its tube, the wrapping of soil around its roots held in place by careful hands.

Lowered into a well-dug hole, the plant and its nursery mix are packed with the new, unfamiliar soil of the river flat. A scattering of native scats mingles with the plant’s startled roots.

After a final tamping of earth, the young tree is watered, soothing the shock of transplant, setting it on its way.

Three bamboo stakes are hammered into the hard ground, ready to take the guard that will protect the sapling’s first few weeks.

An empty milk carton – chocolate, one litre – is slipped over the plant, shielding it from rabbits, roos and wallabies. Only luck will protect those tender roots from the wombat’s nocturnal foraging.

A few encouraging words – perhaps a prayer to the spirit of place – and the worker moves on to settle others into the neighbourhood.

Against the thorny smother of blackberry, gorse and thistle, this eucalypt won’t survive… if not for other, careful hands.