Council’s Parks and Gardens Manager Jim Doidge recently nominated a poplar local gum to the National Register of Big Trees.
The tree, near Black Mountain, is the second local tree on the Cook Shire Council in Queensland now has two trees officially tipped as the largest of their kind in the country.
National Register of Big Trees, with a beach almond in the Botanic Gardens, also nominated by Mr Doidge, already recognised as a National Champion.
The National Register records the biggest of every species of tree in Australia, with more than 740 trees registered. The height, circumference and crown spread are measured giving the tree a point ranking to compare with others on the register.
The National Champion poplar gum, Eucalyptus platyphylla, has a circumference of 2.76 metres, is 24 metres tall and has a 22-metre crown. It is located on the side of the Mulligan Highway just north of the Black Mountain lookout, and is estimated to be more than 80 years old. The National Champion pacific almond, Terminalia catappa, has a circumference of almost five metres, is 30 metres high and has a 32-metre crown. It is located in the Cooktown Botanic Gardens, on the main lawn.
The region could also soon have a third National Champion, with Helenvale’s Lester Shepperd waiting to hear if his nomination of a whopping 31-metre high milky pine, Alstonia scholaris, located in the grounds of the Lion’s Den Hotel at Helenvale, will be successful.
