An eight-year-old girl died after a branch from a 90-year-old tree fell on her at a Sydney public school.
An inquest into the death of Bridget Wright, described as “bright, healthy, with a passion for reading” heard that an arborist had visited the Pitt Town Public School in the months before the accident.
He noticed the 90-year-old red gum, and while did not say it was dangerous, he did say it should come out.
Bridget died when she passed under the tree on her way to the school toilets. The Sydney Morning Herald says “there was a
sudden, loud crack (and) without any warning or the slightest gust of wind, a seven-metre-long branch, 13 centimetres in diameter, fell from a height of six metres and struck the little girl, two other students and a teacher standing below.”
Bridget suffered serious head and chest injuries from which she never recovered.
“Arborist Nathan Stokes told the inquest into Bridget’s death that when he came to Pitt Town Public School to provide a quote for unrelated tree removal work in October 2013, Principal Michael Miller asked him to examine the forest red gum,” the report says.
“I just pointed the branch out – didn’t say it was dangerous but did say it should come out,” Mr Stokes, of Ultimate Arbor Solutions, told the inquest.
“There was a lot of weight at the end of the branch, which puts a lot of pressure at the junction.”
The inquest is continuing.
