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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Aston Brown

‘An unexplained phenomenon’: the Australian obsession for putting stuff in trees

Australia Nichole Overall
A tree strewn with bras in an outback setting
A ‘bra tree’. near Menindee, NSW. A similar tree was established to commemorate a local deputy school principal who died of cancer in 2011. Photograph: Otis Filley/The Guardian

Beside a desolate stretch of outback road, a gum tree is covered in bras.

A few hours south, another is draped with old pairs of shoes. To the west, on banks of the Murray Darling River, hundreds of pairs of thongs are nailed to sawn-off tree trunks. Locals call them “thong trees”.

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