Big blue talking point: Bendigo's blue tree doing its job as symbol of hope

"One time I saw a guy sitting there on the bench looking quite forlorn," the Suicide Prevention Awareness Network Central Victoria co-founder said.

"I stopped and asked if he was OK and he said he'd taken down a couple of the numbers off the sign there and might give them a ring.

"When I looked again, he was on his phone, so I think that he had."

The sky blue dead tree on the Lake Neangar foreshore seems to be doing its job as a talking point about the tragic phenomenon of suicide.

Painted in January and officially launched on May 3, it is one of over a thousand blue trees around the world, scattered across every continent except Antarctica, that have been created "to help spark difficult conversations and encourage people to speak up when experiencing mental health concerns".

"We believe help is never as far away as it feels," the organisation says.

On Friday around 40 people took part in a circuit walk and speeches to launch the blue tree, which is Bendigo's first.

Among them were Bendigo West state MP Maree Edwards and City of Greater Bendigo Deputy Mayor Matt Evans, along with students from Catherine McAuley and Eaglehawk secondary schools and representatives from Remembrance Parks Central Victoria, Rural Finance, Headspace, Bendigo Community Health and suicide prevention program HOPE, as well as SPAN Central Victoria.

According to Ms McGregor, there was talk among the Catherine McAuley College kids about creating their own blue tree.

"One of the teachers told me they were talking about the tree and the kids said they thought it would be a great idea to have one at the junior campus of their school."

In some locations the "trees" were being made out of materials like metal or spanners, Ms McGregor said.

Despite increasing awareness about mental health issues, strong support initiatives like the tree project are needed more than ever, Ms McGregor said, with the number of people taking their own lives each year continuing to climb.

The SPAN CV secretary, who lost two of her own children to suicide in 2002, says she is aware of more than one recent local case.

"I have heard of a few in the last couple of months," she said. "Overall, the numbers are up."

According to Coroner's Court figures, 801 people took their own lives in Victoria in 2023, 281 of them, or 35 per cent, in regional areas.

The number had risen from 697 suicides, 248 in the regions, in 2019.

While historically the topic of suicide has been off-limits, it is "extremely important" to talk about it, Ms McGregor says.

"Back then people were too frightened to mention it or to ask and thought if they brought it up it would make people take their life.

"But studies and research suggest the opposite.

"If you bring it up with someone, it gives them the opportunity to talk about it."

Bendigo's blue tree is now helping to introduce that conversation "into a more public arena".

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