The council wants to fell the elms sometime in February or March because it said they were near the end of their natural lifespan, having been planted in the 1870s.

But this was rejected by Chiltern retailer Graydon Johnston, who has worked as a landscape gardener for more than 30 years.

He said there was no community consultation before Indigo’s mayor Jenny O’Connor announced the shock move on January 10.

“Trees like this, you just can’t replace them in less than 100 years,” Mr Johnston said.

“We want a stay of execution - they are under a heritage overlay of this whole area.

“Legally they can’t be destroyed unless there’s extensive research done and a permit is created.”

The council had hired an arborist to assess the two elms and said disease and age had taken a toll.

It’s believed if the removal goes ahead replacement trees will be Chinese elms, which Mr Johnston said had been planted elsewhere in the town and had struggled to grow healthily.

Colin Peters, who runs the cafe Hub 62 with his daughters down the road, said it would be a shame if the trees were cut down for the street.

Opposite the post office and the two elms is the childhood home of former Prime Minister John “Black Jack” McEwen. 

“Imagine Albury without its trees,” Mr Peters said.

“(Former mayor) Cleaver Bunton was the man who really got that going. He was a champion of the trees.”

In response to Indigo Council’s plan Mr Johnston’s wife Jo sent an email to mayor Jenny O’Connor on Saturday night urging her to reconsider the council’s scheduled destruction of the elms.

Cr O’Connor, who ran as a Greens candidate for council and lives in Beechworth, said she understood the residents’ anguish and that she was deeply saddened the two elms had to be removed.

“It’s the very last thing I would want to see happen, however, trees reach a point where they become unsafe,” she said.

“Our arborist’s whole ethos is about preserving trees whenever he can, this guy gets visibly quite upset when a tree has to be removed.”