A View from Lavers Hill, Victoria, Australia

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The town of Lavers Hill was named after two settlers, Stephen and Frank Laver. The town was established in 1891 and at one time had a bank, community hall, cheese factory, butcher shop, hotel, and 500 students in the school. By 2016 the population was only 78. The haze blanketing this scene is commonly attributed to the area’s eucalyptus forests. The oil in these highly flammable trees emits volatile terpenoids that cause the haze. Eucalypts, which encompass over 800 different tree species, are iconic Australian forest trees. This forest type is by far the most common in Australia, covering 101 million hectares (250 million acres), which is 77% of Australia's total native forest area.