Boefhead Brown was the manager of a well-known Botanic Garden in NSW, and he got permission to hire an assistant. An Aborigne scored well enough on his written application to make the short list, so Boefhead, who preferred to support his own people, had to devise a test that the Aborigine would fail.
Boefhead, the Aborignal candidate, and a third-party referee walked through the garden. Boefhead pointed to a tree and asked the candidate to identify it.
“That's a Red River Gum, or Eucalyptus camaldulensis”, responded the candidate correctly.
Later Boefhead pointed out another two trees, and the candidate correctly responded that the larger tree on the right was an Eastern Australian Ghost Gum, or Corymbia dallachiana, and the tree on the left was a River She-oak, or Casuarina cunninghamiana.
The trio walked up to a large Oak, and before Boefhead could ask what it was, the candidate said, “Ah, you also have exogenous trees, this is an English Oak, Quercus robur.” Boefhead quickly recovered his surprise, and he said, “No, the question is, what side of the tree is the front, and what side is the back?
The candidate walked around the tree slowly, then returning to where the other two stood, he confidently pointed to the tree, and said, “that's the front; for sure.”
“How do you know that, and why are you so addament?”, asked Boefhead, or at least words to that effect.
“It's simple”, said the candidate, “Somebody has had an enormous crap at the back of the tree, so this must be the front.”
