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.
In fruit
February to March: acorns drop, and a good mast year buries the ground in them
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Front of Takapuna Primary School, 23 Auburn Street (Anzac Street frontage), Takapuna, AucklandYou can recognise it as the younger of the two oaks on the school's street frontage, a few metres from its sibling. It stands on the Anzac Street side of Takapuna Primary School, beside the War Memorial Gates.
Stands on the school's street frontage beside the War Memorial Gates and its sibling Edward VII oak; visible from the public footpath on Anzac Street. The school grounds themselves are not open to the public outside school events, so treat this as a view-from-the-street tree rather than one to walk up to.
Takapuna town centre, a few minutes walk; buses run along Lake Road nearby
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
