Prince Albert's Cook Pine

An avenue of six Cook Pines was proposed for the ground in front of the old Parliament House in 1868. Two went in, planted by Prince Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria's second son, during his visit that year. The other four were never planted, one of the two is gone, and the survivor is now the tallest tree in the gardens at roughly 45 metres. One correction to the record, because it circulates: the State Library of Queensland's write-up calls the prince the later King Edward VII. He was not. That was his elder brother, and the Duke of Edinburgh never took the throne. The National Trust record names him correctly. The species comes from New Caledonia and grows as a narrow column rather than a spreading conifer, which is why a single one reads as deliberate where a lone fig would read as an accident. Cook Pines also lean, and they lean consistently: a 2017 survey of the species worldwide found them tilting toward the equator, which in Brisbane means north. Its lower branches have been removed to stop people climbing, which tells you what 45 metres of straight trunk does to the human imagination. The trunk is 0.9 metres through, narrow for the height, and from the George Street side the tree is visible well before you reach the gardens.