Botanical name Ehretia acuminata
A common name Koda
Seedling
Young plant
Juvenile
Reasonably mature
Ehretia acuminata seedlings are quite tender looking little plants, fairly soft to the touch, quite hardy though, a frequent pioneer species, like Guioa semigluaca.
The Koda is quite a vigorus grower. Leaves get a fair bit bigger, changing from soft to crunchy! Once beyond the seedling stage to young plant the wallabies loose interest.
They are inclined to grow new leading limbs if they are leaning too much as the photo below shows. What tends to happen is the leaning branch dies off.
Sassafras
Ehretia acuminata are home to tasty grubs at any age. The shoots are insurance in case the main trunk snaps off, which could happen. The main trunk is actually still quite healthy above here, it will just have to bulk out some more to heal the damage. If the grubs were still there it would almost certainly die above here given time.
Surgery above was almost certainly carried out by this fellas Mum or Dad. A young Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo. This one didn't want to move too far for any particular reason, I was getting a bit concerned because they usually fly off when you get too close unless they have safety in numbers. After a little while Mum and Dad came back from further down the hill and they left for some trees further up the block.