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Statement of Significance

The site of Brisbane City Botanic Gardens was selected as a public garden in 1828 by New South Wales Colonial Botanist Charles Fraser, three years after the establishment of the European settlement. Originally the garden was planted with food crops to feed the convicts. In 1855, a portion of the land was declared a 'botanic reserve' and Walter Hill was appointed as curator. The Queensland Heritage Register describes the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens as 'the most significant, non-aboriginal cultural landscape in Queensland having a continuous horticultural history since 1828, without any significant loss of land area or change in use over time.' It incorporates Brisbane's most mature gardens and features many rare and unusual species of plants.
As a result the tree's easily seen and central location, it is an important landscape element in these historic gardens. It was planted on 30 September 1980 by Dr. Richard St. Barbe-Baker, O.B.E., founder of an international organization known as The Men of the Trees, to commemorate his visit to Brisbane. Dr. Barbe-Baker died on 10 June, 1982 at the age of 93.
The tree is located south east of the formal flower garden.