Can be done with Eucalypts in Australia too (not by abos). Often, when they grow too high and are just a danger of being blown over, you can cut them down several feet from ground level and they will sprout out new shoots from the side of the trunk (which are present as a fire protection mechanism) and re-grow. If you wanted to do something like what the Japanese are doing with Eucalyptus, you could tip a reasonably tall tree over (without cutting all of it's roots), the tree laying on its side will send new trunks up vertically.