Royal Tree spans Three Centuries

Marianne Groothuis is Camellia and Theme Collection Curator at the Dunedin Botanic Garden

Nearly 147 years ago, on 10th of March, 1863, a most royal wedding was celebrated in England. The wedding in question was the marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Danish Princess Alexandra. The good news filtered through to the colony at the lightning speed of the day, reaching Dunedin three months later.

Planting The Royal Oaks

To mark this special occasion - and in conjunction with the establishment of the new Botanic Garden on the site of today’s Otago University - a substantial portion of the city’s population gathered on a sunny winter’s day, 30th of June, 1863. Two commemorative oaks, dubbed ‘The Royal Oaks’, were duly planted.

Location, location, location

Early Dunedin was plagued by floods from the Water of Leith and in February 1868 flooding caused severe damage. Three city bridges and an entire acre of landscaped land in the Botanic Garden was washed away including one of The Royal Oaks!

The Garden was re-located to its present site in 1868, along with the precious remaining oak. It stands today - sentinel over the children’s playground - dominating the scene with its massive trunk and broad irregular crown.

Cables were installed in the canopy in 1980 to increase support to the branch structure. After 30 years of wear the tensioning became incorrect so last year 20% of the outer canopy was thinned and a new web of nylon cables installed. However, soon after an unusually strong storm caused a large limb to crack. An arborist reduced its length and the tree is healing well..

• The Royal Oak stands 12m tall, has a trunk circumference of 5.6m and diameter at breast height of 1.78m
• The original plaque at the base of The Royal Oak, acknowledges John Hyde Harris Esq, in 1863, for planting the young saplings all those years ago
• Quercus robur can live for about 250 years
• The Latin word robur means ‘strength’ or ‘hard timber’
• Common oak, Quercus robur, also known as English oak or pedunculate oak, is a member of the beech family, Fagaceae