A year back Macquarie University announced 120 lemon-scented gums in the central courtyard had to go, what with the risk branches could fall on passers-by. No one appears to know of a death by gum-tree in the 40 years or so they had been there, but you can never tell when the wily eucalypts will pounce. So, chopped down they were over the summer holidays, with the university announcing last May an “updated tree-scape” featuring “native evergreens and deciduous species” for the central courtyard.

What management did not mention is when they were to be planted – which was wise, because it has not happened yet.

The fenced-off central courtyard is now a tree-less waste – nor is there any sign of a start on the replacement for the adjacent student union building, which also came down.

It all looks like a front-runner in the Eric Honecker Prize for East Berlin look-alike open space.

The university tells CMM, “the central courtyard redevelopment works will commence in the coming months” but does not mention of what year.