Tree of the Month

Each month we showcase an iconic or loved tree in Holdfast Bay. The tree of the month aims to increase the awareness of the value of trees in the City of Holdfast Bay, highlighting the important role trees play in our city such as shade, cooling, clean air, fauna habitat, wellbeing and connection to nature.

Species: Ficus rubiginosa (Port Jackson fig)
Family: Moraceae
Origin: NSW, QLD
Flowering time: Fruits contain the flower, all year round
Flower colour: Fruit is yellow, red when ripe
Purpose: Ornamental, shade
Canopy cover (approximate shade provided): 20-24 metres
Approximate age: Over 150 years old (approximately)
Estimated amenity value: More than $300,000

With a canopy that spans more than 20 metres, this Port Jackson fig tree has had a long time to grow – approximately 150 years, if not more.

It stands proudly in front of the administration building on the grounds of St Peter’s Woodlands School at Glenelg, and now bears a Tree of the Month medallion, thanks to the nomination by former student Sue Fuller.

Sue, pictured on left, and school principal Helen Finlay adorned the tree with the medallion which will stay in place for the month of September.

Sue attended the school when it was Woodlands Church of England Girls Grammar School during the 1950s and 60s and said the tree was a meeting place back then, as it is now.

Historical photos of the school grounds show the tree standing tall and proud in the 1920s.

Richard and Emma Smith were the original owners of Woodlands House – which is the ground level of the current administration building - which was built in approximately the 1860s.

Their children gifted the house and land in 1923 to be turned into a school.

With care and maintenance, after 20 years, this tree could potentially:

• offset 214 kilometres worth of CO2 emitted from the average petrol-powered passenger vehicles
• absorb enough stormwater to fill 2390 bathtubs
• remove an amount of pollution from the air – in gaseous and particulate form – equivalent in weight to 192 smartphones

Is there a tree that you love or that you think deserves recognition in the City of Holdfast Bay? Take the time to nominate it by completing the form below.