George V Coronation Tree

A primary school in Takapuna is on Auckland Council's historic heritage schedule because of two oak trees on its front lawn. This is the younger one, planted in 1910 for the coronation of George V, eight years after the school had already done the same thing for Edward VII a few metres away. It is about 116 years old, in a band of 114 to 118. Both trees are Pedunculate Oaks, the English species, put in the ground on the other side of the world as an act of loyalty to a king most of the people planting them would never see. Both carry a plaque. Both are still standing, which the school confirms in its own history, and Auckland Council lists them twice over, once as notable trees and once as heritage. Thirteen years after this oak went in, the War Memorial Gates were raised alongside it and unveiled by the Governor-General, Viscount Jellicoe. Coronation, coronation, war: three moments a town wanted marked, all within a few metres of pavement, and the oaks are the only part of it still growing. A note on getting close. The tree stands at the school's Anzac Street frontage and is easy to see from the public footpath. The lawn itself is school ground and we have no confirmation the public may cross it, so this is one to look at from the street.