Historic trees
Historic trees are uniquely vulnerable components of our heritage for although they may live for several hundred years they will all ultimately die and decay.
The Queensland Heritage Register recognises the importance of trees to the history and lifestyles of Queensland. Listed trees have associations with explorers, politics, pastoralists, drovers, a massacre and even a bank robber. Other trees were planted as memorials or simply for shade. As with other natural features names are often repeated in different localities. Queensland has numerous 'Cedar' and 'Running' creeks and several 'Trees of Knowledge', three of which are listed in the Register.
- Burke and Wills Dig Tree
- Tree of Knowledge (Barcaldine)
- Moonah Creek 'Hanging Tree'
- The Robber's Tree
- Heroes Avenue (Roma)
- Eagle Street Fig Trees (Brisbane)
- Other historic Queensland trees
Burke and Wills Dig Tree
Burke and Wills Dig Tree
Thargomindah
The Burke and Wills Dig Tree is important for its special association with explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, who completed the first north-south crossing of the Australian continent and who both died during their return journey, in 1861. Their journey was remarkable not only as a feat of endurance and story of incompetence, but for the way in which it has permeated Australian historical consciousness. It has also helped to perpetuate the Australian bush legend of struggle against the wilderness. More information.
Tree of Knowledge
Tree of Knowledge
Barcaldine
The Tree of Knowledge is a ghost gum under which the workers met during the Shearer's Strike of 1891. The strike, a major confrontation between capital and labour, was a pivotal event in the development of the labour movement and the formation of the Australian Labor Party. More information.
Unfortunately the original tree has been deliberately poisoned and may not recover.
Moonah Creek 'Hanging Tree'
Ardmore Station
Mount Isa
Tension between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples was characteristic of the Queensland frontier, often resulting
in tragic confrontations as the competition for land and resources escalated. According to local oral history, at the
turn of the 19th century local police hanged 15 Aboriginal people from this tree near the bank of Moonah Creek on Oban
Station, as a reprisal following a cattle spearing incident. The place has a strong association with the local Aboriginal
community (the Waluwarra nation) and the regional community generally for its historical and social values.
More information.
The Robber's Tree
Cunnamulla
Local legend connects this tree with the story of a robbery in 1880, which had repercussions for the practice of
capital punishment in Queensland. The robbery led to an accidental wounding, a bungled get away and the robber's
hiding spot in a tree betrayed by a faithful sheepdog. More information
Heroes Avenue
Heroes Avenue
Roma
The Heroes Avenue of 93 bottle trees (Brachychiton rupestre) was planted by 1920 and was the initial memorial to those
local men who fell during the First World War. Each tree originally bore a brass plaque stating the name of one of the 93.
Only one of these plaques survives.
Most of the trees still remain though some of the original trees have been replaced and some have been removed to allow
for increases in traffic. This war memorial planting is undoubtedly one of the most impressive in Queensland and is of
aesthetic significance as a dominant landmark in Roma. More information.
Eagle Street Fig Trees
Eagle Street Fig Trees
Brisbane
The Eagle Street Fig Trees or 'Plantation Reserve' is important because it survives as a remnant of the development of the area during the first half of the nineteenth century. The area was originally established to provide a place of respite from the hectic wharf trading area. The trees have landmark value at the intersection of several major streets in Brisbane's central business district and continue to provide shade and visual amenity. More information.
Other historic Queensland trees
- Leichhardt Tree in Taroom
- Kidman's Tree of Knowledge near Birdsville
- Tree of Knowledge in Camooweal
- Bourbong Street Weeping Figs in Bundaberg
- Row of Street Trees in Halifax
- Fig Tree in Gladstone
- Hodgkinson's Marked Tree in Mount Isa
- Eumundi War Memorial Trees
Last updated: 01 May 2007
