Roughly 750 to 2,000 years old.
Photo: Martinvl (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Ancient trees in Australia
Australia's old trees keep two different kinds of time. We map 67 trees in 12 cities here. The oldest of them is Gija Jumulu in Perth, at over 750 years.
Melbourne's elms have grown to a size and age Europe lost, because Dutch elm disease never crossed the water; its Osage orange on Yarra Boulevard is dated to the 1860s, among the oldest plantings the site maps here. Hobart's Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, founded in 1818 and the country's second-oldest, holds a Douglas fir older than Australian Federation itself, planted in 1894, alongside dawn redwoods of a species known only from fossils until a living stand was found in China in 1941. Brisbane's City Botanic Gardens, laid out from 1855, grew the tree that started the country's entire macadamia industry, dated from trials beginning 1858. Nothing mapped here is ancient by European or Japanese standards; almost everything is a nineteenth-century planting that got lucky with a climate and a curator who tried something unusual.
Every place we map in Australia
1
Brisbane20 trees · oldest 200 years2
Melbourne16 trees · oldest 160 years3Hobart11 trees · oldest 147 years4
Sydney7 trees · oldest 184 years5Perth6 trees · oldest 750 years6
Canberra1 tree · oldest 90 years7
Cooper Creek1 tree · oldest 200-250 years8
Derby1 tree · oldest 500 years9
Flinders Ranges1 tree10Miriam Vale1 tree · oldest 110-130 years11Pemberton1 tree · oldest 250 years12Timber Creek1 tree
Brisbane20 trees · oldest 200 years2Melbourne16 trees · oldest 160 years3Hobart11 trees · oldest 147 years4Sydney7 trees · oldest 184 years5Perth6 trees · oldest 750 years6Canberra1 tree · oldest 90 years7Cooper Creek1 tree · oldest 200-250 years8Derby1 tree · oldest 500 years9Flinders Ranges1 tree10Miriam Vale1 tree · oldest 110-130 years11Pemberton1 tree · oldest 250 years12Timber Creek1 tree46 species grow in Australia
Oaks Holm Oak 3 · Pedunculate Oak 1 · Southern Live Oak 1
Elms and zelkovas English Elm 1
Planes London Plane 1
Figs and mulberries Moreton Bay Fig 6 · Port Jackson Fig 2 · Weeping Fig 2 · Bodhi Tree 1 · Cunningham's Fig / White Fig 1 · Hill's Fig 1 · Indian Banyan 1 · Osage Orange 1
Conifers Bhutan Cypress 2 · Hoop Pine 2 · Norfolk Island Pine 2 · Queensland Kauri 2 · Aleppo Pine 1 · Bunya Pine 1 · Chir Pine 1 · Cook Pine 1 · Dawn Redwood 1 · Douglas Fir 1 · Giant Sequoia 1
Southern hemisphere River Red Gum 4 · Blue Jacaranda 1 · Coolibah 1 · Jarrah 1 · Karri 1 · Lemon-scented Gum 1 · Mountain Ash 1 · Red-flowering Gum 1 · Southern Mahogany 1 · Spotted Gum 1 · Sugar Gum 1 · Yate 1
More broadleaf trees Boab 3 · Crows Ash / Australian Teak 3 · Big-leaf Mahogany 1 · Black Bean 1 · Macadamia 1 · Mahogany 1 · Peruvian Pepper 1 · Queen's Crepe Myrtle 1 · Silky Oak 1 · Tamarind 1
The 10 oldest trees we map in Australia
About 500 years old.
Photo: W. Bulach (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Roughly 400 to 800 years old.
About 250 years old.
Roughly 200 to 300 years old.
Roughly 200 to 250 years old.
Photo: Peterdownunder (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Roughly 180 to 190 years old.
Photo: Meganesia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Roughly 175 to 180 years old.
Roughly 170 to 190 years old.
Roughly 165 to 200 years old.
Trees from Australia also appear in The Trees the World Has Written About · The Tallest Trees We Have Measured · The Oldest Tree in Every City We Map. See every city on the map, or open the map to find what is near you.