The Moreton Bay Fig Tree, Royal Perth Hospital

The trunk measures 9.4 metres around, which is a startling thing to meet on a city footpath. The National Trust of Western Australia measured it in November 2018 and recorded three metres of diameter, 36 metres of height and a condition of good. It stands on Murray Street in front of Kirkman House at Royal Perth Hospital, and it has been the spot where staff and visitors arrange to meet each other for as long as anyone there remembers. The state heritage inventory calls it a dominant element in the streetscape and unique in form and character in the city centre, which for a heritage inventory counts as enthusiasm. Nobody wrote down who planted it, or when. The inventory says early 1900s and stops there. The National Trust register put it at about 130 years when it took its measurements, which makes it somewhere near 138 now, and that figure is an estimate by people who assess figs for a living rather than a planting record. It could be out by a decade in either direction. If you know the date, tell us. The paperwork behind it is considerable: National Trust classification in 1975, the interim Register of the National Estate in 1978, the state heritage list in 1985. The tree's own argument is simpler. It is enormous, it is in the middle of a working hospital forecourt, and you can walk up and put a hand on it.