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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. This Ooline tree was planted in 1864 during Walter Hill’s curatorship. The species has rain-forest origins dating from the Pleistocene Era, when much of Australia was wetter than it is today, and grows in moderately fertile soils. It is native to central Queensland and New South Wales.
The tree is of considerable biogeographic and horticultural interest as it is a relic of an extensive rainforest vegetation that covered much of Australia in the past and it is a sole species. Due to extensive clearing, it is now considered a vulnerable species. The tree contributes to the landscape value of these historic gardens and is associated with Walter Hill, the garden's first curator, who was responsible for its planting. This is an outstanding example of this large tree which has bright green leaves and rough tile-pattern bark and attractive dark pink flowers.
The tree is located half way along the river path to its west.