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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. John Daly, garden’s supervisor, planted this row in the 1990s after rescuing them from the redevelopment of Queen’s Gardens (opposite the Treasury). Their large number of orange blossoms attracts flocks of rainbow lorikeets each year.
These exotic trees are an important part of the historic garden's landscape because of their position along a path that leads to the river and the beautiful large orange racemes which attract the local rainbow lorikeets in summer. They are associated with the garden's former supervisor, John Daly, who was instrumental in their transplanting from Queen's Gardens, Brisbane, in the 1990's when redevelopment threatened their extinction.
These trees are located along the path leading east towards the river from the rotunda.