Quercus suber

This avenue of Cork Oaks grows at the former Macedon State Nursery, bordering the Bendigo railway and a reservoir, water tower and road bridge. 18 trees remain of the original avenue; 10 trees have died or been removed. There are three other cork oaks on the site that may be older specimen trees. They bear scars from the Ash Wednesday fires and are in fair condition. 

These Cork Oaks are significant for historic and social reasons at the Regional level. 

These Cork Oaks are historically significant for their associations with the former Macedon State Nursery, and with 1960s experimental forestry practices. They are socially significant for their contribution to the landscape, as fine examples of the species and one of the few nursery plantings to survive the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires that decimated the region. 

 

The Macedon Forest Nursery was established in 1871 to provide trees for replanting areas heavily cut over for firewood, farm use and building timber. It is thought the first nursery of its kind in the colony.  

 

While specimen Cork Oaks were recorded on site since the 1880s, this avenue was planted during the 1960s as part of an experimental cork plantation trial conducted by the Forestry Commission. Most plots failed to thrive and by 1971 the trials had been abandoned. This is likely the last attempt to introduce an exotic plantation species into Australia for large scale planting (see Taylor 2015). 

 

Five plots from this period have survived: two plots at Mt Beckworth (T11178), Maldon Historic Reserve, Cox’s Paddock in the Warby Ranges State Park, and Mt Barambogie in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park.  The plantings at Mt Beckworth and Warby Ranges are a similar size to the specimens at Macedon State Nursery. 

 

The buildings, the majority of the nursery and the extensive ornamental garden were destroyed in the 1983 fires. All that remains of the original site is the Cork Oaks, some remnant conifers and oaks, a palm, and a cement Italianate fountain.  

 

Tree Measurements: 

 

Condition: Good 

Tree Type: Avenue (18 trees)  

Average Circumference: 1.5m 

Average Height: 10m 

Average Canopy Spread: 10m 

Height method: Instrument 

Circumference method: Instrument 

Date of measurement: 20/10/2017 

Age of tree: 56 years (planted approx. 1965)