A ginkgo tree raised from seed in Geelong’s botanic gardens more than 160 years ago has been crowned Victoria’s tree of the year, the National Trust of Victoria announced this week. The towering specimen, believed to be the largest ginkgo biloba in the state and possibly the country, has long been the setting for wedding photographs and family picnics in the regional city.
A seed’s long journey from China to Geelong #
The ginkgo biloba is one of the oldest living tree species on Earth, native to China and prized for millennia for its distinctive fan-shaped leaves and extraordinary resilience. According to the National Trust, the Geelong specimen was grown from seed brought to the colony of Victoria in the 1850s, during the gold rush era when botanic gardens across the state were being planted with specimens collected from around the world.
Geelong Botanic Gardens, established in 1851, became home to the tree not long after. Over the following 167 years it has grown to roughly 20 metres in height, according to the National Trust, making it a dominant feature of the gardens’ skyline and, by the trust’s reckoning, the largest tree of its kind anywhere in Victoria.
Why the National Trust runs a tree of the year award #
The National Trust of Victoria has run its tree of the year competition for several years as part of a broader push to raise public awareness of the state’s significant trees, many of which sit on private or council land without formal heritage protection. The trust said in a statement that the award is intended to celebrate “much-loved arboreal icons” while drawing attention to the ongoing loss of urban and regional green space as Victorian towns and suburbs continue to grow.
Trees entered in the competition are nominated by members of the public, with the public also voting for the eventual winner. Previous winners have included veteran river red gums, English elms and Moreton Bay figs from across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria, reflecting the diversity of both native and introduced species that have become fixtures of local communities since colonisation.
The backdrop to ‘countless love stories’ #
For many in Geelong, the ginkgo’s significance has little to do with botany and everything to do with memory. The National Trust describes the tree as having formed the backdrop to “countless local love stories,” with the patch of lawn beneath its canopy long regarded as the most sought-after wedding photo spot in the gardens.
Local photographers and garden staff have told VCN the tree draws wedding parties year-round, but is especially popular in autumn, when its leaves turn a vivid gold before dropping almost simultaneously — a trait ginkgos are well known for. It is this seasonal transformation, as much as its size, that has made the tree a favourite subject for amateur and professional photographers alike across the City of Greater Geelong.
Geelong’s broader botanic legacy #
The win adds to a growing list of horticultural credentials for Geelong Botanic Gardens, which is managed by the City of Greater Geelong and includes both a heritage-listed 19th century garden and a more contemporary “21st Century Garden” showcasing drought-tolerant plantings suited to a changing climate. The gardens are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register in recognition of their historical layout and plant collections, many of which date to the gardens’ earliest decades.
Regional botanic gardens across Victoria, including those in Ballarat, Bendigo and Warrnambool, hold similar heritage listings and have, in recent years, become the subject of renewed public interest as councils look to protect mature tree canopy amid hotter summers and increasing development pressure. Urban canopy loss has become a particular concern for local governments in Victoria’s larger regional cities, where established trees can take generations to replace.
What the award means for protection of the tree #
Winning tree of the year carries no formal legal protection in itself, and the ginkgo’s long-term care remains the responsibility of the City of Greater Geelong, which maintains the botanic gardens. However, the National Trust has used the award in past years to lobby for greater statutory protections for significant trees, including heritage overlays and stronger consideration of veteran trees in planning decisions.
The trust’s statement accompanying this year’s announcement reiterated calls for “protection of green spaces” more broadly, pointing to the pressure that population growth and infrastructure development continue to place on both private and public trees across Victoria. The organisation has previously called on the state government to strengthen protections under local planning schemes, which currently vary significantly between councils in how they treat significant trees on private land.
A living link to the gold rush era #
For a regional city built on gold rush-era wealth, the ginkgo offers an unusual kind of living heritage — a tree planted in the same decades as many of Geelong’s bluestone civic buildings and bank facades, several of which are now heritage-listed in their own right. Unlike those structures, however, the ginkgo has continued to grow, change with the seasons and, as the National Trust’s award recognises, accumulate new layers of community meaning with every passing decade.
Whether this year’s title will translate into any new conservation measures for the tree remains to be seen. For now, Geelong’s ginkgo holds the unofficial but widely celebrated status of the state’s most admired tree — a title its branches, heavy with golden leaves each autumn, seem entirely unbothered by.
Readers can find more information about Geelong Botanic Gardens and the Victorian Heritage Register via the City of Greater Geelong and Heritage Victoria websites.
