Environment Committee

ATTACHMENT A

DRAFT REGISTER OF SIGNIFICANT TREES 2013

The Vision ix Executive Summary xi Part A Introduction A-1 1. Background A-1 2. Purpose and Objectives of the Register of Significant Trees A-2 3. Significant Trees as Heritage Items A-3 4. Assessment and Classification Criteria A-4 5. Context A-6 6. Review Process and Community Consultation A-7 7. Relationship to Other Plans A-8 8. Other Related Controls and Listings A-9 9. Register Listings A-11 10. Managing Ageing Trees A-12 11. Monitoring and Reviews A-13 Part B Sydney's Cultural Landscape B-1 1. Overview B-1 2. Early Garden Influences B-3 3. Private Gardens B-6 4. Public Planting Schemes B-8

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) ii Part C Significant Tree Listings C-1 Precincts and Map C-1 1. King Street Wharf and Walsh Bay C-3 1.01 Sussex Street (adjacent 20 Sussex St) C-4 2. The Rocks and Millers Point C-6 2.01 Argyle Place Park C-7 2.02 Observatory Park C-9 2.03 Agar Steps C-11 2.04 Argyle Street C-13 2.05 Cumberland Street (Bridge Stairs) C-15 2.06 Upper Fort Street, Observatory Hill C-16 2.07 Lance Kindergarten & Childcare Centre C-18 2.08 Fort Street Public School C-19 2.09 The National Trust of Australia (NSW) & SH Ervin Gallery C-20 2.10 Dawes Point Reserve C-22 2.11 Dawes Point Park C-24 2.12 First Fleet Park & Circular Quay West C-26 2.13 Campbells Cove Jetty C-28 2.14 Cumberland Street (at Lower Fort Street) C-30 3. Northern Financial & Alfred Street C-31 3.01 Macquarie Place Park C-32 3.02 Farrer Place C-34 3.03 Macquarie Street Palms C-35 3.04 State Library C-36 4. Western Commercial C-37 4.01 Lang Park C-38 4.02 Wynyard Park C-40 5. Retail Centre and Martin Place C-42 5.01 Hyde Park Barracks C-43 5.02 Martin Place C-44 6. Town Hall & Mid City C-45 6.01 Hyde Park C-46 7. Haymarket C-51 [No current listings] C-52 8. Southern CBD C-53 8.01 Belmore Park C-54 8.02 Elizabeth Street C-56 9. Surry Hills North C-57 9.01 Albion Street C-58 10. Surry Hills South C-59 10.01 Bourke Street C-60 10.02 Devonshire Street C-61 10.03 Phelps Street C-62

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) iii 11. Redfern West C-63 11.01 Redfern Park C-64 11.02 Waterloo Park - North C-66 11.03 Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary School C-68 11.04 "Currency House" 201 Cleveland Street C-69 11.05 Former Rachel Foster Hospital C-70 12. Redfern East C-71 12.01 Elizabeth McCrae Playground C-72 12.02 Walker Street C-73 12.03 St Saviours Anglican Church & The Redfern Centre C-74 12.04 Baptist Street C-75 13. Chippendale C-76 [No current listings] C-77 14. Ultimo C-78 14.01 Wattle Street C-79 15. Pyrmont C-80 15.01 Carmichael Park C-81 16. Darlington C-84 16.01 University of Sydney, Merewether Institute - Butlin Avenue and Maze Crescent C-85 17. Camperdown and Forest Lodge C-87 17.01 No. 63 Hereford Street, Forest Lodge C-88 18. Glebe West C-89 18.01 Catherine Street and Seamer Street Reserve C-90 18.02 Dr H J Foley Rest Park C-91 18.03 Glebe Library Gardens C-93 18.04 Kirsova Playground C-94 18.05 Minogue Crescent Rest Park C-95 18.06 Mitchell Street C-96 18.07 Glebe Public School C-97 18.08 St Johns Anglican Church C-98 18.09 No.177 Bridge Road C-101 18.10 No.156-160 Bridge Road former "Abbey Restaurant" C-103 19. Glebe East C-104 19.01 Wentworth Park - Bridge Road C-105 19.02 No.261 Glebe Point Road C-108 20. Glebe Point C-109 20.01 Jubilee Park (inc Old Tram Terminus Group) C-110 20.02 Pope Paul VI Reserve C-114 20.03 Arcadia Road C-116 20.04 Avenue Road C-117 20.05 Cook Street C-118 20.06 St Scholastica's College (Toxteth Park) C-119 20.07 No.26 Boyce Street C-121 20.08 "Hartford" 244 Glebe Point Road C-122 20.09 "Bidura" 357 Glebe Point Road C-123 21. Darlinghurst C-124 21.01 Green Park C-125 21.02 Darlinghurst Court House C-127

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) iv 22. Elizabeth Bay C-129 22.01 Beare Park C-130 22.02 Macleay Reserve C-132 22.03 Reg Bartley Oval (inc Rushcutter's Bay Kindergarten) C-133 22.04 Macleay Street C-136 22.05 Manning Street C-137 22.06 Tusculum Street C-138 22.07 Victoria Street C-139 22.08 St Lukes Hospital C-140 22.09 "Wayside Chapel" 29 Hughes Street C-142 22.10 "Bomera" & Tarana" 1 Wylde Street C-143 22.11 "Coonana" 42 Bayswater Road C-145 22.12 No.34A Billyard Ave C-147 22.13 "Berthong" 36 Billyard Ave C-148 22.14 "Boomerang" 42 Billyard Ave C-149 22.15 "Birtley Towers" 8 Birtley Place C-151 22.16 "Salamanca" 53-55 Elizabeth Bay Road C-152 22.17 "Adereham Hall" 71 Elizabeth Bay Road C-153 22.18 "Ercildoune" 85-91 Elizabeth Bay Road C-154 22.19 "Kincoppal" 93 Elizabeth Bay Road C-155 22.20 "Tresco" 97 Elizabeth Bay Road C-158 22.21 "Templeton" 3 Holdsworth Avenue C-161 22.22 "Chatsbury" 6-8 Ithaca Road C-162 22.23 "Habitat" 1 McDonald Street C-163 22.24 "Tradewinds" 14-16 Onslow Avenue C-164 22.25 "Elizabeth Bay Gardens" 15-19 Onslow Avenue C-165 22.26 "Bayview Towers" 20-22 Onslow Avenue C-166 22.27 "Aquarius" 50-58 Roslyn Gardens C-168 23. Woolloomooloo C-170 23.01 Cook & Phillip Parks C-171 24. Moore Park and Paddington C-173 24.01 Oatley Road Reserve C-174 24.02 Oxford Street Reserve C-175 24.03 Martin Road C-177 24.04 Napier Street C-178 24.05 Selwyn Street C-179 24.06 Sydney Boys High School & Sydney Girls High School C-180 24.07 Victoria Barracks C-183 24.08 Centennial Parklands - Lang Road & Federation Way C-185 24.09 Centennial Parklands - Moore Park Golf Course C-187 24.10 Centennial Parklands - South Dowling Street C-190 24.11 Centennial Park - Cleveland Street C-191 24.12 Centennial Park - Moore Park / Anzac Parade C-193 24.13 Centennial Park - Moore Park Rd, Driver Ave & Kippax Lake C-197 24.14 Fox Studios C-201 24.15 "Patrick White House" 20 Martin Road C-203 25. Rosebery C-205 25.01 Crete Reserve C-206 25.02 Turruwul Park C-207 25.03 Durdans Avenue C-209

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) v 25.04 Gardeners Road Public School C-210 25.05 Hayes Road C-211 26. Green Square C-212 26.01 Waterloo Park - South C-213 26.02 Austin Grove C-215 26.03 Gadigal Avenue C-216 26.04 Joynton Avenue C-217 26.05 Green Square School (formerly Waterloo Public School) C-218 26.06 No.20 O'Dea Ave C-219 26.07 (Mc Pherson Lane) 904 Bourke Street C-220 27. Newtown C-221 27.01 Hollis Park C-222 27.02 Georgina Street C-224 27.03 University of Sydney (Newtown Campus) C-225 27.04 University of Sydney (Sydney University Village) C-226 28. Erskineville C-227 28.01 Lillian Fowler Reserve C-228 28.02 Newtown Primary School C-229 29. Alexandria C-230 29.01 Alexandria Park C-231 29.02 Buckland Street C-233 30. Southern Industrial C-234 30.01 Burrows Road C-235 31. Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens C-236 31.01 Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain C-237 32. Garden Island C-240 32.01 Garden Island / HMAS Kuttabul C-241 33. Victoria Park and University of Sydney C-245 33.01 Victoria Park - Broadway C-246 33.02 University of Sydney, Physics Road & Manning Road C-249 33.03 University of Sydney, Science Road C-251 33.04 University of Sydney, Parramatta Road Frontage C-253 33.05 University of Sydney, University Avenue C-255 33.06 University of Sydney, Western Avenue C-258 33.07 University of Sydney, Fisher Road Precinct C-260 33.08 Sancta Sophia College Group C-262 33.09 St John's College Group C-264 33.10 St Andrew's College Group C-266 33.11 Wesley College Group C-268 33.12 St Paul's College Group C-270 33.13 The Women's College Group C-272 33.14 Royal Prince Alfred Hospital - Missenden Road C-274 34. Darling Harbour C-277 34.01 Darling Harbour C-278 35. Prince Alfred Park, Central and Eveleigh Rail Yards C-281 35.01 Prince Alfred Park C-282

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) vi Part D Appendicies 4-1 A. Bibliography 4-1 B. Statistics and Summary Information 4-4 C. Nomination and Assessments 4-5

"The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!' ".

John F. Kennedy

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) vii "It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit."

Robert Louis Stevenson

Acknowledgements: The City of Sydney would like to acknowledge the following people for their contribution to the production of this Register of Significant Trees, 2013.

City Of Sydney Team Karen Sweeney Phillip Julian Joel Johnson

External Advisors Robert Smart - Arterra Design Pty Ltd Gwilym Griffiths - Arterra Design Pty Ltd John Oultram - John Oultram Heritage & Design Pty Ltd Colleen Morris - Landscape Heritage Consultant

Arterra would also like to acknowledge the substantial work and research undertaken by LandArc Pty Ltd in their production of the original 2005 Register.

Photography:- All photographs by Arterra Design Pty Ltd and dating from late 2012 unless otherwise noted. The Vision

Significant trees are an important part of the natural and cultural landscape of the City of Sydney. They greatly contribute to our City’s heritage and unique character and help make our City healthy and more beautiful.

The City works to recognise and protect trees with unique historic, cultural or botanical values. The Register of Significant Trees identifies trees in the City’s public parks and streets as well as privately owned properties to help guide their management so they are protected for future generations.

The City is committed to promoting and protecting these important trees and their landscape settings. They play an important part in Sydney’s past and future and often hold a special place in peoples’ hearts.

We are working to maintain and expand a diverse urban forest which includes our most significant and historical trees to continue the proven benefits of plants and trees in a city.

Lord Mayor "They are beautiful in their Cr Clover Moore peace, they are wise in their silence. They will stand after we are dust. They teach us, and we tend them."

Galeain ip Altiem

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) ix "Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." Warren Buffett Executive Summary

The purpose of this Register of Significant Trees is to identify and The heritage values for each listed tree or group of trees has recognise the importance of significant trees in the landscape, to been summarised into a Statement of Significance which guide their management and to ensure their protection for future involves interpretation and analysis of comparative points of generations. The Register of Significant Trees is not a static importance (eg. values including rarity, biodiversity, individual document and will be subject to ongoing review and updates. and/ or group, landmark, representative and integrity, research and social, cultural and spiritual associations). The criteria relate The Register forms part of a suite of documents that provide the to both cultural and natural significance of an item and place. tools for tree management and planning in the City of Sydney The heritage values of a significant tree or group of trees are and include the following:- almost always multi-layered.

• Tree Management Policy Opportunities for public nominations were invited on Council’s • Urban Forest Strategy web-site and 35 individuals and various groups provided • Street Tree Master Plan nominations for either individual trees or groups of trees, • Tree Management Controls nominating 320 trees in total. All nominations have been investigated and assessed. The assessment methodology for determining the significant trees is based on criteria developed by the NSW Heritage The Register of Significant Trees has listed a total of 2645 Office, in accordance with the Burra Charter. This provides a significant trees (excluding the Domain & Royal Botanic Gardens consistent approach to heritage identification and assessment managed by the Botanic Gardens Trust) and can be applied to all types of heritage places and items. The information contained in the 2013 Register builds upon the The trees have been divided into precincts according to the extensive work done for the 2005 document which included a Precinct Plans established under the City of Sydney Street Tree thorough physical examination of trees and the relationship to Master Plan 2011. their natural occurrence or cultural history, further supported by field work examination of reports, photographs, archival material The management of this collection of significant trees within and oral evidence. The collected data was evaluated on the a highly urbanised environment raises a number of important basis of each tree’s (or group of trees) contextual relationship to issues. Many of the scheduled trees are of a similar age group. other similar trees and their relative importance in terms of the The fact that many of the trees were planted during the latter following criteria:- part of the nineteenth century, means that many of these giants, • visual and aesthetic significance particularly the Moreton Bay Figs, are rapidly approaching • botanic and scientific significance senescence. Rather than this being a long-term phase, the • ecological value increased level of stress in our urban environment is often • historical and commemorative significance accelerating the processes of decline. Furthermore, these large • social significance specimen broad leaf trees that have created Sydney’s outstanding landscapes are no longer being planted in most locations. Often there is simply not enough space. In the absence of any staged

recruitment, these ageing cultural landscapes are all the more important. It is necessary that the City continue a coordinated strategy to address these issues on a city-wide basis.

The enhanced status of significant trees should be used to promote a broader community awareness and to highlight Council’s commitment to the protection of these trees and their contextual landscapes. In this exercise, it is important to emphasise to the community the significance of “place” – not simply recognition of the listed item(s) but an understanding of the value of the trees within the broader landscape.

It is recommended that these initiatives be promoted by Council as part of an ongoing community-based exercise ensuring broad media coverage, web-site information, community involvement, opportunities for further nominations and review, and education in appropriate conservation strategies.

Figure A1- Moreton Bay Figs are a prominent feature around Sydneys' Harbour and in our Victorian era planting and parks.

Figure A2 - Washingtonia and Phoenix palms were a common planting and are still often prominent within Sydney's Victorian era parks.

© City of Sydney Register of Significant Trees 2013 - Draft for Exhibition (February 2013) xii "Trees are the best monuments that a man can erect to his own memory. They speak his praises without flattery, and they are blessings to children yet unborn."

Lord Orrery Part A Introduction

1. Background

The City of Sydney is located on one of the greatest natural shale-derived soils of the higher ridges and plateaus. The harbours in the world. It is Australia's largest city and the capital sparse Aboriginal population was dependent on the continuity of NSW. The Council's Sustainable Sydney 2030 Strategy looks and management of limited resources. European settlers, to secure Sydney's future, its prosperity and liveability as a initially through timber-getting and clearing for farming and later model green City, with a developing and well protected urban through urban and suburban expansion, had a dramatic impact forest. on this balance, irreversibly altering aboriginal society, existing natural ecosystems and biodiversity. The City understands the importance of trees and the numerous benefits they provide. The Register of Significant Trees 2013 Past heritage studies and local histories have tended to focus on essentially provides a review and update on the previous work the City of Sydney’s rich and complex social and cultural history, undertaken in 2005. The main aim of this current Register is to:- particularly its built environment since European settlement. This • record and update changes to the existing trees and history is reflected in the extraordinary number and diversity of their listings; listed heritage sites and relics which tell the story of Sydney’s • improve the usability and readability of the document; development from convict settlement, agricultural town and port, • improve the communication and promotion of this to Australia’s largest urban centre. valuable resource; • facilitate the potential adoption of web-based and mobile Since European settlement in Sydney Cove on the southern device access to the information; shores of Port Jackson, the natural vegetation cover has • facilitate the use of the Register as a more dynamic and been reduced to a few scattered individual trees and shrubs, updateable public resource and descendants of this once vast and complex natural system. • review and assess any new nominations for inclusion on These descendants are largely confined to the Royal Botanic the register. Gardens, Mrs Macquaries Point, the steep slopes of Garden Island and parts of Glebe. They include a few Forest Red The City of Sydney, comprises an area of approximately 26 Gums, Blackbutts, Swamp Oaks, Cheese Trees, Sweet-scented square kilometres, covering an area bounded by Sydney Pittosporum, Blueberry Ash, Hickory Wattle and a few shrub Harbour in the north, and the local government areas (LGAs) species. Of all these natural remnants the Port Jackson Fig, a of Woollahra and Randwick in the east, Botany in the south and ubiquitous lithophyte, remains a true survivor – highly adaptable Marrickville and Leichhardt in the west. and a constant component of the city’s urban landscape.

In 1788, this area was covered in a vast, uninterrupted mosaic As the natural vegetation was cleared, a new cultural landscape of vegetation which included estuarine and freshwater wetlands, began to take shape. In 1879, Charles Moore, Director of the open woodlands on steep sandstone scarps, heaths and Botanic Gardens reported on the disappearance of the last Banksia scrubs on old sand dunes and forests on the richer naturally occurring Eucalypts in the Domain. Avenues and

parklands of planted native and exotic trees progressively replaced these natural landscapes with all their understorey and 2. Purpose and Objectives of the wild flowers. By 1902, Joseph Maiden, Director of the Botanic Register of Significant Trees Gardens, wrote about the 100 remaining native plants “growing without cultivation in the Outer Domain” (Benson & Howell, p. In early 2012, a brief was prepared by the City of Sydney for the 45, 1990). The new cultivated landscape of Sydney’s public review and update of the existing 2005 Register of Significant parkland, dominated by Moreton Bay Figs and Port Jackson Trees. It was stated in the brief that:- Figs, was established during this mid- to late nineteenth century “Significant trees are often the last indicators of former natural and period – a landscape which was to transform the visual and cultural landscapes and provide a valuable heritage resource on aesthetic character of Sydney. many levels. The community correctly places high importance on the recognition and protection of significant trees”. This is now an ageing landscape within an increasingly urbanised environment. These multi-layered heritage values The purpose of the Register of Significant Trees is:- are being threatened by a range of processes and interventions. “To identify and recognise the importance of significant trees in Space for these trees is continually being reduced under these the landscape, to guide their management and to ensure their pressures of urban intensification and the associated impacts protection for future generations”. are often accelerating the loss of these heritage values. The City of Sydney has responded to these broad range of issues in a The Register forms part of a suite of documents under the City's number of ways including preparation of environmental planning Tree Management Policies. These documents provide the tools instruments, development and regulatory controls, ongoing for tree management and planning in the City of Sydney. monitoring and compliance as well as community-based initiatives and education. The core objectives of the Register are:- • to allow the City to identify and recognise the importance of trees in the landscape, to guide their management and to ensure the protection of significant trees for future generations; • to provide a document that is an integral part of a suite of documents that facilitates the management of the City's Urban Forest • to develop a consistent analytical approach to significant tree assessment based on accepted heritage assessment criteria; • to provide an important tool for the future planning, protection and management of significant trees on private and public land; • to raise public awareness, community interest and a broader sense of value and worth of significant trees; • to ensure thorough consultation with all key stakeholders;

Figure A3 - Norfolk Island Pines and Palms in Jubilee Park, Glebe.

3. Significant Trees as Heritage Items

A Register of Significant Trees is essentially a heritage study. They may also be part of significant sites (eg. early estates) and Significant trees are commonly the last vestiges of former natural contribute to the setting of important buildings and spaces. and cultural landscapes. These trees retain exceptional values in terms of their contribution to our urban environment. They In recognising the significant trees within a local area, have a recognisable range of values – natural, aesthetic, visual, greater meaning can be brought to the past, allowing a richer scientific, social and historic. These trees can be symbols of understanding of the present. This in turn can provide the basis great spiritual power, they may have associations with individual for better methods of protection, care and management for the people and communities or tell stories of other times and places. future. The assessment of heritage significance is a dynamic They may record the historic development of a place, trade process, changing with the passage of time and reflecting the routes, connections and communications. Significant trees often way people interact and perceive the relative importance of visually dominate a place by their shear size, scale and visual places and items, particularly as parts of this collective heritage impact. are lost.

Remnant trees from former natural ecological communities may retain valuable habitat and faunal corridors for other endangered and dependent species. These trees also offer a valuable gene pool for future scientific research, conservation and restoration.

Figure A4 - Large Moreton Bay Figs are a prominent landscape feature around Sydneys' Harbour and in our Victorian era parks, such as this magnificent specimen at the end of Glebe Point Road, in Pope Paul VI Reserve, Glebe.

4. Assessment and Classification Criteria

Over many years, various bodies have sought to establish a set There are five basic categories in the assessment criteria; of guidelines or criteria for what exactly constitutes a “significant 1. Outstanding Visual or Aesthetic Significance tree”. Many listings of significant trees have relied largely on a 2. Botanic or Scientific Significance nomination process involving community and special interest 3. Significant Ecological Value groups, stakeholders and interested individuals. In some 4. Historical and Commemorative Significance cases, these listings have been critically evaluated by a panel 5. Social Significance of experts to determine whether a tree or a group of trees should be included within a Register. A number of listings have Significant trees are assessed through systematic research, focussed on quantifying "significance attributes" using a range field work and documentation. A thorough physical examination of numerical weighting and scaled formats. These listings have of trees in relation to their natural occurrence or cultural history is often strived for objectivity but have been hamstrung by their conducted and supported through reports, photographs, archival level of complexity. material and oral evidence. The collected data is evaluated on the basis of each tree’s contextual relationship to other similar This study has been guided by established and tested practices trees and its relative importance. in heritage identification and assessment. The process has highlighted a consultative approach with the community which Typically for a tree to be considered for listing on the Register it includes public nominations of significant trees, public exhibition will need to satisfy at least two of the above criteria, especially if of the Draft Register, opportunities for submissions and review the primary element for listing is simply visual and aesthetic value. of listings by a panel of independent experts. This limits the subjectivity of the nomination and assessment, providing a robust and defendable selection process. In developing the criteria for the Register of Significant Trees, an underlying concept of value and worth must be established For example; if a resident were to nominate a large Lemon to provide a qualitative assessment given the enormous range Scented Gum (Corymbia citriodora) in their neighbour’s front of trees encountered in such a survey. The Register must also yard that is only 20 years old because they like it and want it provide a consistent analytical approach to maximise its value protected. It may satisfy the aesthetic criteria but it is not of any as a reference document which will facilitate the protection and great botanic or scientific value, it doesn’t provide great ecological ongoing management of these trees within a rapidly changing significance, and it is not associated with any historical event nor urban environment. have any strong social significance - it would therefore not be eligible for listing on the Register. The classification criteria used in the 2005 Register was based on criteria from the Register of the National Estate, (developed As outlined in the City's over arching Tree Management Policy, in accordance with the Burra Charter) which was closed in all trees are valued and are subject to the provisions of the 2007 and is no longer a statutory listing. This is not to say that City of Sydney's Tree Management Controls, City Plan and the criteria is no longer valid. It was however ‘academic’ in its Development Control Plan. This later document specifically explanation and was geared mainly towards the assessment of outlines the requirements for protection and retention of trees heritage items of the built form. within the City's control. Large and beautiful trees are still protected even though they may not satisfy the requirements In this review of the Register of Significant Trees the assessment for listing in the Register. Also, listing on the Register does not criteria has been updated. While still using the general principles automatically prevent a tree from being removed in the future. outlined in the Burra Charter, the NSW Heritage Office Manual It does however, place a greater emphasis and scrutiny on for Assessing Heritage Significance and retaining the main any developments or activities that may impact on the long elements of the 2005 document, the updated criteria provide term health, enjoyment and visual or historical association a more ‘tree focused’ assessment that is less academic in surrounding the tree or group of trees. its wording. This will allow more people to understand the assessment process.

The following outlines the current assessment criteria for listing on the Register of Significant Trees.

Outstanding Visual or Aesthetic Significance Historical or Commemorative Significance a. Tree(s) that are outstanding for their height, trunk a. Tree(s) that are associated with public significance or diameter or canopy spread. important historical and commemorative events. b. Tree(s) that occur in a very prominent location or context. b. Tree(s) associated with a heritage listed place and c. Tree(s) that contribute significantly to the landscape in representative of that same historic era. which they grow [including streetscapes, parks, gardens c. Tree(s) that are particularly old or vulnerable. or natural landscapes]. d. Tree(s) that are associated with a significant person or d. Tree(s) that exhibit an unusual growth form or physical group of persons. feature, including unusually pruned forms. e. Tree(s) that exemplify an important and valued taste or Social Significance landscape style. a. Tree(s) that have strong or special associations with a particular community or cultural group for reasons Botanic or Scientific Significance of strong religious, spiritual, cultural or other social a. Tree(s) that are rare or of an important genetic value associations, including trees associated with aboriginal that could provide important and valuable propagating heritage and culture. stock. This could include specimens that are particularly b. Tree(s) that are important to the local community and/or resistant to disease or climatic extremes or have a are important to a community’s sense of place. particular growth form. b. Tree(s) that demonstrate a likelihood of producing information that will help the wider understanding of natural or cultural history by virtue of its use as a research site, teaching site, type locality or benchmark site.

Significant Ecological Value a. Rare, threatened or locally uncommon species or ecological community. b. Indigenous remnant tree(s) that predate the urban development in its immediate proximity. c. Tree(s) that make a significant contribution to the integrity of an ecological community, including its role as a seed source or specialised habitat. d. A remnant specimen now reduced in range or abundance, which indicates the former extent of the species, or particularly range limits. e. Tree(s) which provide a significant habitat element for rare, threatened or locally uncommon or common native species.

5. Context

It is important to recognise that “significance” is inextricably linked to “place”. Significant trees do not generally occur in isolation – rather they are important components in defining the broader context and character of the landscape. Listings may be composed of a number of trees, possessing as a whole entity, the values for significance recognition, whilst each individual tree, as a component, may or may not be considered significant in its own right.

Significant trees are a product of natural environmental opportunities and the cultural impact of landscape modification and human intervention over time. Cultivated landscape elements, garden escapes and exotic weeds are now overlaid to varying degrees upon a former natural vegetation pattern. Cultural and historic planting also reflect intricate patterns of development, providing a guide to the way the landscape has changed since European settlement in Port Jackson. Significant groupings of cultivated trees are thus traceable to the large private estates and ‘marine villas’ which dotted the harbour foreshores and sandstone scarps, the early trading and transport corridors, educational and other government institutions, the Crown lands and commons and outlying village centres. In this way, significant trees are often an integral part of the layering of associations of places and people. Figure A5 - Queensland Kauri, Tuckeroo and Washingtonia Palms associated with the historic "Bomera" and "Tarana" As previously discussed, significant trees often visually residences, Potts Point. dominate a local area by their shear size. However this particular attribute, by itself, may not necessarily mean that the tree(s) social and visual significance today may in time achieve great are significant. Some trees, such as Eucalypts, can achieve significance and value to future generations. dramatic proportions in a relatively short time frame but may not be assessed as “significant”. It is important to recognise that Trees are living, growing organisms which are affected by the the process for determining significance must consider the full environment around them and conversely, trees will make their range of criteria. Furthermore, it is possible that some significant own impact felt over time. These dynamics are not contained trees for listing are not at all large in scale but may possess within a static document and this point emphasises the need to extraordinary botanic or scientific significance in terms of rarity monitor, upgrade and modify the Register over a period of time. or representative values. These examples highlight the need for detailed investigation, comparative analysis and review of local Part of this process and review is aimed at allowing the Register contextual relationships and relative importance of potential to be come a more dynamic internet based resource that can be listings. more easily updated and even used and accessed via mobile computer devices. In assessing significant trees, a balance is established between items which have the qualities of significance and those items of possessing fewer attributes according to the criteria. It is important that listed items should not in any way reduce the value or deem expendable those trees which are not scheduled on the Register. For example, immature trees of little historic,

6. Review Process and Community Consultation

Appointment and Review Project Control Group In accordance with the City of Sydney’s competitive tender Throughout the study, Arterra Design has liaised with Council’s policy, Arterra Design Pty Ltd was selected to prepare this Project Control Group on a regular basis for guidance, review update and review of the Register. As part of the team, Arterra and comment on the process, formatting and outcomes of the engaged the services of John Oultram and Colleen Morris as study. The Project Control Group has also assisted in relevant specialist landscape heritage advisors. land ownership details, map bases and property descriptions affecting the future management of significant trees. Colleen Morris is a heritage consultant that specialises in gardens and landscapes. She is the author of the award winning Public Exhibition Lost Gardens of Sydney published by the Historic Houses Trust The Draft Register of Significant Trees 2013 will be placed of NSW in 2008. She has written numerous articles and papers on Public Exhibition for comments and feedback from the for journals and National Trust publications and was a major community and stakeholders. contributor to the Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (2002).

John Oultram Heritage & Design was established in January 1998 by John Oultram. The practice specialises in the provision of heritage conservation plans and heritage impact statements. The company is listed on the Heritage Office of NSW register of heritage consultants.

The draft of the Register of Significant Trees 2013 has been prepared during the period from May 2012 to December 2012. The study has involved the review of the existing 2005 Register, review of subsequent studies and photographic records, planning instruments and policies, community consultation, aerial mapping, detailed field investigation and ground truthing, evaluation and assessment of significance and an examination of potential threats and future directions for heritage protection.

Public Nominations The community was also consulted in the development of this updated Register. Opportunities for public nominations were advertised and invited on Council’s web-site using a standard nomination form. The nomination period of six weeks was from 1 September to 30 October 2012. A total of 35 individuals and various groups provided nominations for either individual trees or groups of trees. All nominations have been investigated and assessed and a Summary Report tabled in the Register (refer to Appendix C: Public Nominations and Assessments).

7. Relationship to Other Plans

This review has considered the following City of Sydney policies The Register of Significant Trees is informed largely by the and documents with relevance to trees; Greening Sydney Plan and the City’s Urban Forest Strategy. - Sustainable Sydney 2030 This strategy will influence the Register with regard to impacts - Greening Sydney Plan 2012 and opportunities for significant tree protection, and improved - Street Tree Master Plan 2011 communications and promotion of this valuable resource. - Tree Management Policy - Tree Preservation Order 2004 and Tree Management In turn, the Register, both informs and, responds to the statutory Controls planning instruments such as the City of Sydney LEP 2012 and - City of Sydney Council LEP & DCP the related Development Control Plans and Heritage Listings. - Urban Forest Strategy (Draft)

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

Sustainable Sydney 2030 City of Sydney Tree Policies

Environmental Management Plan Tree Management Policy (Overall Guiding Tree Policy)

Urban Forest Strategy Greening Sydney Plan Street Tree Master Plan Strategic Focus Areas

Urban Canopy Register of Significant Trees

Urban Ecology Park Tree Management Plans

Community Empowerment Tree Preservation Order & Tree Management Controls Operational Focus Areas Tree Donation Policy New Developement

Community Greening Volunteering Education The City of Sydney LEP, DCP's (including LEP heritage listings) Public Domain

Figure A6 - The Greening Sydney Plan - the relationship of the key planning documents and where the Register of Significant trees sits within the wider suite of City documents and planning instruments.

has no statutory implications for development at the place and 8. Other Related Controls and reflects the listing of the place on the LEP noted below. Listings Section 170 Register A broad range of heritage listings, identifying places and items of Under Section 170 of the NSW Heritage Act, State Authorities heritage significance, exist for the City of Sydney. These listings are required to prepare registers of heritage items under their provide the first steps in protecting and managing these places control. Listing on the Register has no statutory implications for and items. Significant trees, as discussed, do not usually occur development at the place. in isolation. They are contextual elements within the broader landscape and ‘places’ which may have multiple layering of There are two types of statutory listings in NSW:- natural and cultural heritage significance. The scheduled items • State Heritage Register – a register of places and items within this Register may also be included under other statutory of particular importance to the people of NSW; and frameworks. • Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) – which include listings or schedules of places and items which have Statutory listings or registers provide a legal framework for this significance within the local government area (LGA). process and they help to ensure that these special places and items are not lost or diminished by unsympathetic development These listings have tended to focus on built heritage and usually or management practices. provide minimal data on natural heritage places or cultural landscape heritage, including parks and gardens and significant trees. In the past, there has been a considerable amount of Australian Heritage Council duplication of listings and to some degree, conflicting data or The Australian Heritage Council (AHC) is the principal advisor to ambiguity in the listings. It can be difficult to find data on specific the Australian Government on heritage matters, having replaced places. For example, items scheduled under Council’s LEP the Australian Heritage Commission in early 2004. The AHC may refer to ‘Palm Trees’ as a specific listing, which are in fact assesses nominations for the National Heritage List and the landmark features of a specific location, such as Macquarie Commonwealth Heritage List. The AHC compiles the Australian Street or Farrer Place. Other generic listings refer to ‘Street Heritage Places Inventory (AHPI), an inventory of places Trees’ and include a number of listed places and items which of significance listed in State, territory and Commonwealth are not necessarily supported by any detailed investigation or Heritage Registers and Lists in Australia. It also compiles the assessment. Australian Heritage Database that includes information on places in the World Heritage List, the National Heritage List, the There are no specific or indivdual trees considered to be of Commonwealth Heritage List and the register of the National State or National significance in this Register. There are listings Estate. The AHC formerly compiled and maintained the Register however which are part of larger parks, buildings or estates that of the National Estate, but this Register was closed in 2007 and have been listed on the State Heritage Register, for example is no longer a statutory list. Listing on the National Heritage List Macquarie Place Park, Centennial Parklands, Garden Island, would only affect activities by Federal authorities. Hyde Park, Victoria Barracks, "Bomera & Tarana", "Boomerang" and "Tresco" residences, to name just a few. Heritage Branch of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Scheduled items may form a larger group or collection of significant trees which in combination have a greater level of State Heritage Register significance (eg. the University of Sydney Group). Under the Heritage Act 1977 (amended 1998), the Heritage Branch of NSW Office of Planning (formerly the NSW Heritage Current LEP listings for Significant Trees Office) administers and maintains the State Heritage Register The Register has a role in reviewing and updating existing (SHR), a register of items and places that are considered to have listings under the LEP. Previous study has included assessment heritage significance at a state level. and review of existing significant tree listings based on data provided in now superceded LEP's such as Leichhardt Council’s Heritage Database LEP 2000 (as amended), South Sydney’s Amending LEP 2000, The Heritage Branch also compiles the Heritage Database, a the City of Sydney’s LEP 2000, Central Sydney Heritage LEP collated database of all places listed on statutory heritage lists, 2000 and the Sydney City Heritage Study. including Local Environmental Plans. Listing on the Database

The significance of Glebe’s heritage landscapes is also well has completed a comprehensive Conservation Management recognised with listing in the Register of the National Estate Plan (CMP) for the Royal Botanic Gardens which includes (Glebe Conservation Area) and classification as an Urban significance rankings for many of the established trees. The Conservation Area by the National Trust of Australia (NSW). Gardens and the Domain themselves are listed under the NSW State Heritage Register. A number of tree listings in the current City of Sydney LEP however raise questions over investigation and assessment The Domain also has a separate Plan of Management and its process. For example, some LEP scheduled items include a own Conservation Management Plan. Both the Botanic Gardens mixed palette of street trees that may be visually prominent at and Domain Plan's of Management will be reviewed and updated the group level but lack overall continuity, cohesion and integrity as part of a new Master Plan currently being prepared for the in the landscape. Some trees may simply contribute to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust. broader contextual character of a local neighbourhood, providing amenity values and in some cases, limited biodiversity values Non-statutory Registers (eg. the ubiquitous Eucalyptus spp., Melaleuca spp., Casuarina The National Trust of Australia (NSW), a non-government, spp., and other generic native species planted since the early community organisation maintains a register of landscapes, 1970s period). This update process provides the opportunity to townscapes, buildings, industrial sites, cemeteries and other revisit some of these earlier decisions and to validate and update items or places which the Trust determines have cultural the existing data bases. significance and are worthy of conservation. This process follows a nomination and assessment process, assisted by the Botanic Gardens Trust Nominations Trust’s various committees. Items which are considered worthy The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain is considered to be of listing are given the non-statutory title of ‘classified’. Although of significant heritage status. Apart from the significant trees having no legal force, ‘classification’ ensures recognition of and palms of Macquarie Street, this Register of Significant the item and an authoritative statement by professionals with Trees contains no listings for other trees as they are under the specific expertise in this area of heritage. statutory management of the Botanic Gardens Trust. The Trust

Figure A7 - A Moreton Bay Fig at Mrs Macquaries chair in the Domain.

9. Register Listings

The entries form the main part of the Register with detailed possible extent of root zone; information for each individual or group listing. For ease of • approximate height, canopy spread and trunk diameter at reference these listings are broken up into strategic Precincts as 1.0 metre above ground level/ extent of any buttressing, devised for the City of Sydney Street Tree Master Plan 2011, with etc; some additional precincts added as necessary to deal with areas • basic visual tree assessment including condition, status, that were not covered under the above plan. The listings are then health, evidence of any obvious physical or structural colour coded depending on their ownership and management. damage, insect attack and pathogens; and The four ownership categories being:- • comments on existing or potential threats • Public Parks and Reserves - Significant trees under the control and management of the City of Sydney Other related trees and palm components are also described • Street Trees - Significant trees under the control and here in order to highlight their importance as contextual management of the City of Sydney elements (ie. these items are not considered to be significant). • Other Government authorities, Institutional, Religious Nevertheless, these other trees and palms are typically integral and Non-government Organisations - Significant trees components of the landscape (both public and private) and have on land under the control and management of other a range of aesthetic, visual and amenity values. They may help Government departments and authorities or Institutional, to define the landscape character of a place and may support Religious and Non-government Organisations (NGOs) the values associated with the more significant trees. In the • Private Ownership - Significant trees under private future, some of these trees may acquire a level of significance. ownership within the boundaries of the City of Sydney. These other components and associated plantings may be For each listing the following information is typically provided:- discussed in the Statement of Significance with regard to their Summary Data: values and relative importance within the landscape (eg. positive, • precinct number and listing description; neutral, intrusive). Management issues, particularly relating • location and full property description, ownership/ to trees which may be considered intrusive (eg. affecting the management, control/ responsibilities and references to growth of a significant tree or an environmental weed species) other listings where applicable; are also discussed. • list of the scheduled items including the number of scheduled items for the property description; and The comments provided on the status, health, condition, potential • known or estimated planting dates. This will typically be threats and recommendations for management are essentially a for the oldest known plantings and not necessarily cover basic visual assessment in the context of developing a heritage all the scheduled items. Register. This data is not intended as a detailed arboricultural investigation or assessment. Further detailed assessments of Historical Notes health, condition and tree management recommendations for • brief summary of the known history of the site and its scheduled trees may require further investigation by a qualified relevance to the planting; arborist. • full botanical description including botanical and common names, other local/ historic names, if applicable; Furthermore, a more generic approach has been taken for • significance attributes of scheduled item; scheduled trees occurring on public and government lands • origin (eg. ornamental/ cultivated – geographic place of which are not under the direct control or management of the origin/ cultivars); City of Sydney. In these instances, individual or specimen trees • relevant issues affecting the status of the tree(s) and within these properties, have been assessed as a group rather recommendations for management and/ or remedial than as individual items. treatment. Statement of Significance This is the description summarising the reasons for the Description significance of the scheduled items. Trees which are assessed • location – detailed description of site location within as having significance in terms of the established criteria are property listing; listed in the “scheduled items”. • extent of influence – reference to canopy cover and

10. Managing Ageing Trees

The trees which forms the main focus of this Register are typically These activities impact in varying ways upon these ageing trees. ageing trees within a rapidly changing urban context. The Each development proposal in isolation may not seem that forces driving the City’s development and urban consolidation significant however, it is the cumulative impacts of these actions of property mean that these trees often have less than ideal over time that are inexorably shifting the balance. space to survive and grow. Many of the City’s significant trees in this Register are under threat from a range of different Significant street and park trees are also under enormous urban impacts. Development is intensifying the processes of pressures, due to their age and from a rapidly increasing urban incremental loss. The requirements for development such as environment, even in established open spaces. These public multiple off-street and underground parking, driveways, garages, areas are often seeing greater traffic loads, both pedestrian drainage retention devices, air-conditioning and ducting, large and vehicular. The spaces for these often large remnant trees service areas and preferences for expansive outdoor paved are diminishing as services increase. Many of these trees are living areas and swimming pools have all substantially increased positioned close to roadways (a legacy of nineteenth century row the building footprint on blocks of land. The intensive nature of planting). These trees may be affected by a range of overhead building in these locations requires dramatic changes to existing and underground services and the requirements for access, soil profiles and is often accompanied by increasing compaction maintenance and renewal of this infrastructure. Compaction of around ageing root systems, significantly altered water-tables, old root zones in these locations, particularly from increasing modification of soil nutrient levels, pH levels, salinity, drainage road and pedestrian traffic are also taking a high toll on the long- conditions and introduction of new pathogens. term viability of many of these specimens.

Figure A8 - An aging row of Moreton Bay Figs along Bridge Road in Wentworth Park Glebe.

Consequently, the city’s heritage is being gradually diminished – individual specimens are being lost from ever smaller groups 11. Monitoring and Reviews of trees. At the broader level, the visual integrity and historical The enhanced status of significant trees should be used connections with some of the landscapes is being significantly to promote broader community awareness and to highlight altered over time. Council’s commitment to the protection of these special trees and their contextual landscapes. The even-aged nature of a vast number of the trees planted during the latter part of the nineteenth century, means that many It is important to emphasise to the community the significance of these giants, particularly the Moreton Bay Figs, are rapidly of the “place” – not simply recognition of the listed item(s) but an approaching a senescent phase. Rather than this being a long- understanding of the value of the tree or trees within the broader term phase, the increased level of stress in urban environments landscape and the urban forest. can effectively accelerate the processes of decline. These initiatives should be promoted by Council as part of an Furthermore, large specimen broad leaf trees, that have created ongoing community-based exercise ensuring broad media Sydney’s outstanding landscapes, are increasingly harder to find coverage, easily accessed web-site information, volunteer space for. Throughout much of the Post-War period and the latter involvement, and opportunity for further nominations and review, part of the twentieth century, there has been little systematic and education in appropriate conservation strategies. approach in many areas of wider Sydney to ensure staged replacements to address these losses. As a result, these ageing The Register of Significant Trees will be subject to the principles cultural landscapes are now in peril. In addition, the replacement of adaptive management. The Register shall be reviewed strategies often emphasise the use of smaller alternate species annually and should be subject to a comprehensive review after that require less space. For example, senescent Moreton Bay 10 years. Figs may tend to be replaced by the smaller Port Jackson Fig, that was still often a component within the palette of larger Part of this current update and review process has been to growing figs. provide the information on the trees in a more standardised and electronic database format. It is envisaged that this will allow the The City recognises the need to maintain our cultural heritage City of Sydney to potentially migrate the document to a more and landscapes. In many locations it has begun the process accessible and readily updated online document. of succession planting, utilising the same species where appropriate and sensible. The overall integrity and scale of historic schemes needs to be carefully considered and balanced within new management realities. Furthermore, it is important to retain a level of flexibility in the selection of suitable replacement species, ensuring that site-specific opportunities and constraints are properly addressed.

1. Overview

For thousands of years before European settlement the area surrounding Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) was home to several Aboriginal tribes. The "Eora people" are the coastal Aborigines of the Sydney district.

In 1770 James Cook, in command of the HMS Endeavour, sailed along the east coast of Australia, becoming the first known European to do so. On 19 April 1770, the crew of the Endeavour sighted the east coast of Australia and ten days later landed at a bay in what is now southern Sydney. The ship's naturalist, Sir Joseph Banks, was so impressed by the volume of flora and fauna previously unknown to European science, that Cook named the inlet "Botany Bay".

The British colony of New South Wales was subsequently established with the arrival of the First Fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip in January 1788. It consisted of over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men). A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on the 26 January 1788.

The trees we see today in Sydney tell the stories of the people of Sydney and in particular the great plant collectors, the botanists, nurserymen, horticulturists, landscape designers and garden makers of the nineteenth century. The mature, often even-aged landscapes of the nineteenth century are aging and increasingly threatened by a range of urban impacts. Important decisions will need to be made over the coming years to address the way we manage and replace these ageing trees. Significant trees are not static items but are dynamic, ever-changing and potent symbols Figure B1 - The ubiqitous Sydney Red Gum (Angophora costata) - a grand and significant tree that would have graced the shores within the city landscape – present day icons delivered from a of Sydney for millenia prior to 1788 and the arival of Europeans. time of romantic pleasure gardens and picturesque landscapes.

Figure B2 - City of Sydney from above, circa early 1920's (Source: Australia Beautiful 1928, Photograph by Milton Kent)

Figure B3 - City of Sydney and Farm Cove from above (2009), with one of Sydney's earliest remaining cultural landscapes in the foreground.

These trees also share and reflect the cycle of life like all living organisms, moving from birth to juvenile development, onto a long period of maturity, followed by senescence and death. The significant trees are often part of an ageing landscape – one that evokes a vast range of personal values and associations. It is something that Sydney is passionate about.

The urban landscape is overlayed and modified by a vast range of natural and cultural heritage values. The recent debate over removal and replacement of figs in the Fig Avenue on the Cahill Expressway and Hospital Road in the Domain are testament to the passion with which some of these trees are viewed. The eventual loss of any of the city’s significant trees will undoubtedly stimulate further debate in the future. Furthermore, as these trees near the end of their life cycle, it is important that we make informed decisions based on a better understanding of their requirements in an urban environment. 2. Early Garden Influences

In 1788, Sydney Cove and its environs would have been a place of extraordinary biodiversity with habitats ranging from tidal flats to forested valley floors and shrubby woodlands on the rugged slopes and hilltops. Within only one hundred years, almost all of this natural vegetation had been swept away. The Colony’s earliest attempts to change and modify this landscape can be traced to the Government Domain, land set aside for Crown use by Governor Phillip in 1792. This area of land extended east from Figure B4 - Natural vegetation and Eucalypt woodland and the Tank Stream to Woolloomooloo Bay. It included the area of forests such as this would have once blanketed much of Sydney the first farm established to feed the struggling Colony in 1788 in prior to European settlement. a place known to the local Aboriginal people as ‘Woccanmagully’, later to become ‘Farm Cove’.

In 1811, Governor Macquarie commenced construction of stone walls to define the boundaries of the Domain, thus separating it from the town. Under the guidance of Mrs Macquarie, the landscape was shaped and the surviving indigenous vegetation was brought into relationships with plantings of exotic trees, drives, spaces and views. By 1814, Governor Macquarie’s concept of a “Government Garden” in Farm Cove had begun to take shape with the planting of two Norfolk Island Pines (Churches, S., 1990). Following completion of Mrs Macquarie’s Road in 1816, English Oaks (Quercus robur), Stone Pines (Pinus pinea), Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta) and Blackbutts (Eucalyptus pilularis) were planted along the roadway. It is interesting to note that of these four species, two were Old World exotics and two were local indigenous species to this particular area. Remnants of the stand of Swamp Mahoganies still stand Figure B5 - Natural heathland and shrubland dominated the along the stone wall in the Gardens making them the earliest sandy areas and exposed sandstone promontories. civic planting in Australia.

Early Sydney gardens were essentially productive gardens with Following Governor Macquarie’s planting of the Norfolk Island an emphasis on uncomplicated care. They were modelled on the Pines (Araucaria heterophylla) in the ‘Government Garden’, this simple squared patterns in the walled kitchen gardens of Britain. species became a particularly popular landmark planting during The trees planted in early Sydney were often focussed on the early years of the Colony. These pines and the related hoop production and included imported fruit trees and early plantings pine, discovered in Moreton Bay in the 1820s also served as of Olives (Olea europaea) (Morris 2008). Likewise significant navigational beacons and markers on the harbour. The distinctive street and roadside tree planting seems to have been absent appearance of these trees with their physical stature, symmetry from most city streets even well into the 1800's. The stately and grand scale has been a lasting part of the Sydney landscape Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla) appealed to the and sky-line for almost two hundred years. British taste for conifers and by the 1820's graced the front lawns of many colonial houses and public buildings. Some of the other The cultural landscapes of the City of Sydney are closely significant trees planted during these very early colonial times linked to our natural heritage and the picturesque and idealised were Stone Pines (Pinus pinea) and English Oaks (Quercus landscapes of the early to mid-nineteenth century. As wealth robur). was created, gardens and estates were increasingly used to signify a new permanence, attempting to emulate the grand The Sydney Botanic Gardens began a significant botanical role gardens of Europe. Gardens were first developed by borrowing as early as 1816 in the exchange of plant specimens. Collections on the traditions of the English Landscape School and European of Australian flora were being exported to botanic gardens Romanticism. Both were well established in Europe at the time in Britain and Europe. Sydney quickly became a vital part of New South Wales was founded as a Colony. Francis Greenway, trade with other gardens around the globe including Calcutta, the Civil Architect under Governor Macquarie, outlined a largely Penang, Singapore, Mauritius, St. Vincent, Jamaica, Trinidad unrealised vision for the Government Domain to be planted and Capetown (Churches, D.R., 1990). Access to the Gardens in the English Landscape style of Capability Brown. These was first restricted to only the ‘gentry’ of Sydney but was later romantic and idealised landscapes gradually supplanted by the changed in 1831 to include the general public. Much of the Gardenesque style from the 1830s onwards provided the main planting within the gardens at this time related to kitchen needs. influences for garden design. Early gardening styles also took Nevertheless, from these beginnings, a vast range of botanical their lead from the classical, formal influences of the Georgian, specimens were introduced to the Colony, providing the early Regency, Classical, Victorian and Italianate architectural styles influences and direction which would later come to dominate the of the period. It was also a time of great global exploration and city’s landscapes. interest in botanical collections.

Figure B6 – Hickson Road circa 1947. Early streets of Sydney were often devoid of any form of civic or street planting (Source: CoS Photo Archives)

Although there were many overlays of varying fashion, art, science and philosophical meaning, the thematic concepts for the planting of public and private gardens took their inspiration from the stories of early explorers, the cedar-cutters, botanists and plant collectors including William Paterson, Charles Fraser, Allan and Richard Cunningham, John Carne Bidwill and Ludwig Leichhardt and their Aboriginal guides. Plant discoveries by colonial botanists during the 1820s-1840s introduced a vast range of new and exciting subtropical rainforest species which were soon available to the public. Stories of extraordinary botanical diversity attracted enormous popular interest. These subtropical landscapes became the inspiration for new ‘idealised landscapes’. The landscape around Sydney harbour and to the west was a hostile, relentless landscape offering no respite for early settlers. The poor conditions and general infertility of soils hindered expansion for agricultural production. There were few similarities with the bucolic landscapes of England and northern Europe. In comparison, the rainforests to the south in the Illawarra and along the northern rivers of NSW offered Figure B7 - Millers Point from Observatory Hill, circa early unparalleled opportunities for tapping into a rich resource. 1920's (Source: Australia Beautiful 1928, Photograph by The rainforests seemed to offer a way to change the Sydney Cazneaux) landscape from its dry, desiccated scrubs and woodlands.

The Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla), a particularly large used more for their attractive dark, glossy evergreen foliage. and impressive evergreen broadleaf species was a relatively These native species were mixed with a broad range of other early ornamental introduction to colonial gardens and was used exotic ornamental introductions, many of which continued this as a major landscape element throughout much of the nineteenth broadleaf, evergreen character such as the Camphor Laurel century. This species has remained a definitive element in the (Cinnamomum camphora), Holm Oak (Quercus ilex), Jacaranda landscape of the City of Sydney. The magnificent scale and (Jacaranda mimosifolia) and American Bull Bay Magnolia broad dense evergreen canopies of these figs were ideally (Magnolia grandiflora). Exotic pines such as Stone Pine (Pinus suited to grand garden schemes. An avenue of Moreton Bay pinea), Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii) Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) Figs was planted in the Domain c.1847. This species remains as and Monterey Pines (Pinus radiata) introduced to Australia in a significant historic and cultural element from the Victorian era. 1857, were also popular during this period. Charles Moore (Director, Sydney Botanic Gardens 1848-1896), nurserymen Michael Guilfoyle and his son William who became This broad selection of tree species with their myriad shapes, the Director of Melbourne Botanic Gardens promoted the use forms, textures and colours were adapted to the environmental of Moreton Bay Figs and many other rainforest specimens as conditions of Sydney and the prevailing garden styles and key components for park planting throughout the mid- to late fashion. A vast number of new ornamental and cultivated species nineteenth century. were introduced into Sydney gardens and parkland during this period. Many species failed while others flourished. This process Rainforest trees created an evocative, romantic landscape of selection influenced the way gardens developed over time. dominated by lush, subtropical broadleaf species. These In this way, species selection and availability influenced the collections included native rainforest specimens with outstanding Landscape Style (c.1810 - c.1860) and the Picturesque Style of floral displays such as the Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta), the 1820s-1860s which were later merged and overlayed with a Blackbean (Castanospermum australe), Illawarra Flame Tree new landscape approach – one which reflected the vast range (Brachychityon acerifolius), Queensland Lacebark (Brachychiton of botanical specimens sourced from around the globe. These discolor) and Firewheel Tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus). Other collections grew increasingly complex and eclectic by nature. species such as Crow’s Ash (Flindersia australis), Plum Pine This Gardenesque Style (c.1835 – c.1890) gained momentum (Podocarpus elatus), Tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis anacardioides), during the latter part of the nineteenth century following the era Tulipwood (Harpullia pendula), Brush Box (Lophostemon of The Great Exhibition held in London in 1851. In particular, the confertus) and Tulip Oak (Argyrodendron actinophyllum) were new technology, a glasshouse designed by Paxton, provided

new opportunities to grow subtropical specimens in a cold of the time such as Elizabeth Bay House, Captain Piper’s estate climate. This fashion and popularity for such botanical curiosities ‘Henrietta Villa’, Macarthur’s ‘Camden Park’ and the Macleay’s influenced the types of exotic collections and character of both ‘Brownlow Hill’ all reflected these influences. It was however private gardens and public open space throughout Sydney. Robert Henderson rather than Thomas Shepherd, who was given the job of superintending the laying out of the gardens of Elizabeth Bay. Notably, it was reported at the time that Macleay 3. Private Gardens “never suffered a tree of any kind to be destroyed” (Carlin, S./ Historic Houses Trust, 2000). He retained much of the rich One of the most important and lasting collections of significant indigenous vegetation of the scarps and rock outcrops while trees still to be found in the City of Sydney lies within the former enhancing the landscape in the picturesque style of the period. grounds of the Elizabeth Bay estate. In 1826, Alexander Macleay, It was a visionary approach at a time when most land-owners Colonial Secretary of New South Wales (1826-1837) acquired the totally cleared their land of all native vegetation to impose a grant for an estate, covering an area of more than 21 hectares completely new landscape. It is interesting commentary on (54 acres) in Elizabeth Bay. Alexander Macleay was heavily prevailing attitudes that the natural landscape immediately east influenced by the English Landscape Style first popularised by of Sydney was described in the Sydney Gazette of May 1831, ‘Capability’ Brown and later, by Humphrey Repton’s Landscape as “a mass of cold and hopeless sterility, which its stunted and style, which introduced further picturesque elements. Both unsightly bushes seemed only to render the more palpable.” Alexander Macleay and Thomas Shepherd, landscape gardener (Carlin, S./ HHT, 2000). and Sydney nurseryman, were enthusiasts of this style during the 1820s-30s period. The most fashionable and famous villas

Figure B8 - Conrad Martens born England 1801, arrived Australia 1835, died 1878 - Elizabeth Bay and Elizabeth Bay House 1839 watercolour 46.1 x 66.3 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Felton Bequest, 1950.

Figure B9 - The 1875 subdivision plan showing the network of paths that led down to Macleay's botanic garden, and the orchard. (Source: Mitchell Library, M2 811.18112/1865/1)

4. Public Planting Schemes

The great Victorian landscapes of row plantations and individual specimen planting have come to define much of the City of Sydney’s visual and aesthetic character. They were visionary landscapes influenced by a broad range of people, but notably the efforts of Charles Moore, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens (1848-1896). These trees were planted within the context of a landscape largely devoid of any remaining natural vegetation – a landscape which had been shaped by successive phases of timber getting, broad-scale clearing, agricultural development and encroaching urbanisation. Nevertheless, the few remaining drifts of original native vegetation were incorporated into these landscapes where possible as informal elements, such as Figure B10 - A large Mango Tree (Mangifera indica) located in the Domain. These remnants of natural heritage have long adjacent to "Boomerang", site of the orchard that once graced since vanished from these open spaces and been replaced with the extensive grounds of The Maclaey's Elizabeth Bay House. further planted overlays since the early twentieth century.

The transformation of the estate into one of the most highly Over time, this legacy of Victorian public planting, has matured acclaimed gardens of the period was well under way when to produce landscapes which are dominated by massive native Macleay and his wife, Eliza, commissioned John Verge to design figs, particularly the Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) and Elizabeth Bay House. This magnificent villa, built between 1835 Port Jackson Fig (F. rubiginosa). These species have been used and 1839 in the fashionable Greek Revival style, became the predominantly in row plantations along the boundaries to the centrepiece to the expansive harbour-side land grant in Elizabeth parkland. Rather than establishing a lineal, formal layout of rigid Bay. Alexander Macleay lived in the house for only six years but spacings, these trees were set-out informally in the landscape. left a lasting legacy, continued by his son William. Alexander They are arranged in a more naturalistic way, stepping Macleay established a library, entomological collection and backwards and forwards along the boundaries, merging and pursued interests in botany, accumulating within the estate one overlapping with other planted elements and notable specimens. of the greatest botanical collections in the Colony (NSW State These rows often include a range of similar species, including Heritage Register). New plant introductions and their sources the Deciduous Fig (Ficus superba var. henneana) and exotics, were methodically recorded in two surviving notebooks (Plants particularly the hardy Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) and Camphor received, c1826-1840 and Seeds received, 1836-1857). The Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora). Essentially, the large, broadly notebooks record exchanges with William Macarthur of Camden spreading, evergreen figs remained the tree of choice in these Park and William Sharp Macleay’s natural history collectors in schemes – the quintessential elements in these boundary India. The gardens contained many exotic fruit trees from around plantations. This approach can be seen throughout The Domain the world. Charles Von Hugel noted in 1835 that “pawpaw, guava and Moore Park areas and is repeated throughout the major and many plants from India were flourishing”. (Carlin, S./ HHT, public parks of the City of Sydney. In this way, the boundary 2000). The gardens of ‘Boomerang’, located within the former plantations to these parks have created the great streetscapes of orchard of Elizabeth Bay House, still retain a very old specimen the City’s road network (eg. Anzac Parade – Moore Park, Bridge Mango (Mangifera indica) from India and an Avocado (Persea Road – Wentworth Park, City Road and Broadway – Victoria gratissima) from Central America or the West Indies. Park, Elizabeth and College Streets – Hyde Park, York Street – Lang Park and Wynyard Park and Buckland Street – Alexandria The former private harbour-side villas and estates, with their Park). once extensive grounds and gardens, have provided a rich, albeit fragmented heritage of significant trees. The Macleay’s The internal open spaces created by the figs were embellished Elizabeth Bay House estate, in particular, has left a lasting legacy with a range of native and exotic species, including deciduous of significant trees. These remnants of a once vast collection elements such as Oaks (Quercus spp.). In many instances, are today scattered throughout the now subdivided private dramatic vertical elements and botanic curiosities were gardens of high-rise apartment blocks. These significant trees introduced as key thematic elements. The native and Pacific have somehow survived, some have even flourished, within an Island pines such as the Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria increasingly urbanised and hostile environment. heterophylla), Hoop Pine (A. cunninghamii), Bunya Pine (A.

bidwillii), Cook Pine (A. columnaris) and Queensland Kauri The multi-layering of public gardens and street tree planting Pine (Agathis robusta) were often used in mixed clusters and continued throughout the Inter-War period (c.1915-1940) and groupings. These tall emergent trees now feature prominently Post War periods (1940s to 1960s) of the twentieth century. The in the landscape. Their bold symmetry, dramatic scale and hardy, native Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus), Hill’s Weeping vertical accent are an important part of the City’s modern sky- Figs (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii), American Cottonwood (Populus line. Moreover, these elements tended to reinforce the overall deltoides) and the London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia) have thematic style of a lush subtropical, evergreen character. This been the most popular and lasting influences on these public carried through to the early twentieth century planting overlays, landscapes during this period (eg. Macleay, Victoria, Tusculum including substantial formal layouts and re-workings of earlier and Manning Streets, Potts Point, Arcadia and Avenue Road, garden typologies following the First World War. Glebe and Buckland Street, Alexandria). The city’s public parkland however was increasingly influenced by the pace These overlays often included a range of exotic palms, of urban consolidation. Parks were placed under increasing particularly the Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis) pressure for development and a range of uses that were often and Washington Palm (Washingtonia robusta). These species unsympathetic to the long term viability of significant trees. At the were used in formal, commemorative layouts (eg. Jubilee Park, same time, particularly during the Depression, resources were Glebe and Redfern Park, Alexandria) and many informal mixed stretched for appropriate management of these public spaces palm layouts throughout the City (eg. Dawes Point Park, The and important tree collections. The city’s parks became the Rocks, Prince Alfred Park, Redfern, Green Park, Darlinghurst focus for various unemployment schemes and many trees were and Reg Bartley Oval and Beare Park, Elizabeth Bay and the removed while others were added as part of these programs. former Zoological Gardens in Moore Park). This approach to the design and management of public parkland and the valuable collections of trees continued for much of the Post-War period (1940s to 1960s).

Figure B11 - The Sydney landscape owes much to our 19th century parks and the signature plantings of the long term directors of the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens at that time, Charles Moore (1848-1896) and Joseph Maiden (1896-1924).

During the 1940s to 1950s period, native gardens were beginning to be embraced and promoted by people such as Betty Maloney, Jean Walker and Edna Walling. This movement towards creating ‘bush gardens’ laid the foundations for a new Australian garden style which grew in popularity during this period. This philosophy became part of a broader focus on global and local environmental issues during the 1960s to 1970s. The new garden style was adapted to the City’s parks and streetscapes with the introduction and layering of a new range of Australian generic species. Since the early 1970s, this phase of planting has established the now ubiquitous examples of Eucalypts (Eucalyptus spp. and Corymbia spp.), Paperbarks (Melaleuca spp.), She-oaks (Casuarina spp.), Wattles (Acacia spp.) and Bottlebrush (Callistemon spp.). These species have Figure B12 - Hyde Park in the 1920's commonly known as created a new ‘bush’ aesthetic in the city, particularly within "Lovers Walk" (Source : Nation Library of Australia - nla.pic- some of its streetscapes. It is worthy of noting that this group an24616751) of trees has attracted possibly the widest community interest in the nomination process during this study. In the parks, these trees have continued to shape and impact upon older historic collections and in some instances have adversely affected the integrity of heritage landscapes.

During the 1980s, the Darling Harbour redevelopment provided the impetus for establishing an entire new landscape, overlaying an important part of Sydney’s early maritime and foreshore history. This new landscape drew on vast numbers of translocated mature specimen palms to create an ‘instant landscape’. Although some were supplied via nurseries, some of this transplanted population of exotic palms (ie. Washington Palms, American Cotton Palms and Canary Island Date Palms) and mature Figs were brought from places which had their own particular, social, aesthetic and historic significance, and this Figure B13 - Hyde Park in the 1930's the avenue removed and may have diminished the heritage of these places. replaced during City Circle railway construction (Source : CoS Photo Archives) Although the acquisition of mature Cabbage Palms (Livistona australis) from natural wild populations has occurred in the past, this practice is now becoming relatively uncommon. Many of the Livistona now come from Roads and Maritime sites where they are doing roadworks, or where major forestry projects are happening and the palms would otherwise be destroyed. Similary, significant plantations of translocated palms and trees exist where they have been salvaged from development sites that would have otherwise seen them lost entirely. They are now available to utilise and contribute to new landscapes.

Figure B14 - Hyde Park in the 1990's, the avenue of Hills Figs at their peak

Figure B15 - This aerial view of the City of Sydney circa 1920's. Note the young but establishing planting in Wynyard Park in the lower right, Hyde Park in the upper left, but the absence of any other street planting in most other city streets. (Source: Australia Beautiful 1928, Photograph by Milton Kent)

Precincts and Map

This section of the Register of Significant Trees 2013 provides the individual lists and scheduled items that have been assessed and considered as significant. They are presented based on the precincts established for the City's Street Tree Master Plan 2011 with a few additional precincts added for areas not specifically covered by the above document.

To find a tree or area of interest, refer to the map on the following page for the location and naming of the various precincts. Each precinct is then shown in more detail with a map showing the location of the individual significant tree listings together with a unique identification number. The points on the individual precinct maps are colour coded to illustrate their ownership and management.

Map 1. The City of Sydney - Register of Significant Tees Precinct Map

1. King Street Wharf and Walsh Bay

1.01 Sussex Street (adjacent 20 Sussex St)

Address: Historical Notes 20 Sussex Street, This Hill’s Weeping Fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii) is comparable Millers Point in size and scale to the Hill’s Weeping Figs in Hyde Park. It is one Ownership Type: of the largest trees on Hickson Road/ Sussex Street and is older Street than the other street trees which date from the 1970's. It appears Owner/ Controlling Authority: to have been planted c 1947. (refer to City of Sydney Archives Barangaroo Delivery Authority Photo circa 1947). It is located in the beer garden of the Sussex Year of planting (of oldest item / if known) Hotel. c. 1947 This species is an important historical component throughout Scheduled Significant Trees the City of Sydney LGA and has been used extensively in public street and park planting schemes since the Inter-War (c.1915- Qty Species Common Name 1940) and well into the Post War period. These figs continue Ficus microcarpa var. 1 Hills Weeping Fig a lush, native broadleaf evergreen theme consistent with hillii earlier nineteenth century planting schemes and provide high ornamental amenity and biodiversity values in this urban setting. Further Hill’s Weeping Figs have been planted in Sussex Street/ Hickson Road in the 1970's. Most of these trees however, are relatively small in stature due to the shallow nature of soils and underlying hard-stand associated with earlier reclamation works. Sussex Street marks the eastern edge of Cockle Bay prior to the 1830s period.

Figure 1.1.1 – Hickson Road circa 1947. Note the Sussex Hotel and the tree assumed to be the Hill's Weeping Fig on the left below the rockwall of the adjoining Napolean Street. (Source: CoS Photo Archives)

Description This Hill’s Weeping Fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii) is located immediately north of Moreton’s (Sussex) Hotel in a small triangular garden bed, adjacent to pedestrian pavement and below the sandstone wall to Napolean Street. Unlike the other Fig planting in the street it is away from the street kerb line and offers significant amenity to both Hickson Road and Napolean Street and the Sussex Hotel. It's canopy extends over the garden bed, footpath and half-way across the road (Sussex Street). The Fig is likely to have an extensive root zone.

This Hill’s Weeping Fig measures approximately 20 metres in height with a canopy spread of 30 metres and trunk diameter of 1.4 metres at 1.0 metre above ground level. This tree is estimated to have been planted c. 1947 and appears to be in only fair health and condition. The canopy is not very dense and shows signs of thinning.

Statement of Significance This single Hill’s Weeping Fig (Ficus microcarpa var. hillii) is a visually prominent specimen of dramatic form and impact in this streetscape. It offers significant historic value, and contributes to the streetscape.

Figure 1.1.3 – The base of the existing Hill's Weeping Fig

Figure 1.1.2 – The existing Hill's Weeping Fig