Level of Significance
- File
- Local
- Regional
- State
- National
Age (approx)
120yrsTrees
9Diameter
1mHeight - 35m
Details
- Horicultural/Genetic (Scientific)
- Seed/Propagation Stock (Scientific)
- Outstanding size (Scientific)
- Outstanding species (Scientific)
- Landscape (Social)
- Landmark (Social)
- Contemporary association (Social)
- Park/Garden/Town (Historic)
- Person/Group/Institution (Historic)
- Attractive (Aesthetic)
- Unusual (Aesthetic)
- Species/Location (Aesthetic)
Statement of Significance
From Jamaica, these trees are of important horticultural significance and a source of seed stock for others of its kind in the area. They are outstanding for their size and outstanding examples of their species.They make a significant contribution to the landscape of this historic town.
These trees form an important landmark in the centre of historic Mossman, with which they are identified. They are associated with Rev Edward Taffs, Rector of St David’s, who came to the area in 1904 and Dan Hart, the first settler in the Mossman area.
They have contemporary association with the community who appreciate the shade and landscape value they provide to the community.
They are interesting looking trees and the epiphytic ferns which cover their trunks and branches give the trees an old, woolly appearance. The trees are better than average example of their species, or a tree in its location.
History
In 1873 George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple named the Mosman River (later changed to Mossman) for Hugh Mosman while searching for a suitable port for the Palmer River goldfield. The town was known for a brief time as Hartsville after Daniel Hart, a timber getter from Jamaica, who came to the area in 1874 and who is believed to have supplied the seeds for these trees. Later the name of the town was simplified to Mossman and it became a prolific sugar cane growing district which had the only sugar mill in the area. Rev Edward Taffs, Rector of St David’s, who came to the area in 1904, planted the trees. The Queensland Heritage Register which lists St David’s Church and its associated raintrees states: ‘The fern-clad raintrees (Samanea saman) forming an archway along part of the Captain Cook Highway (Foxton Avenue) that takes road travellers out of the centre of Mossman toward Daintree. These trees and the beautiful arbour they make, as well as the unusual use of stone and Byzantine-influenced design details in the church, make an important aesthetic contribution to the town of Mossman'.
Location
The trees are at the junction of Foxton Avenue, Mill Street and Mossman Street.