A 167-year-old ginkgo in Geelong was voted Victoria's tree of the year
The National Trust said the botanic-garden tree, planted in 1859 and about 20 metres tall, took nearly a third of the votes.
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A ginkgo planted in Geelong in 1859 is Victoria's Tree of the Year. ABC News reported on October 28, 2026, that the National Trust of Australia counted 27 percent of the votes for the tree in Geelong Botanic Gardens, nearly a third of all ballots.
The tree is 167 years old and about 20 metres tall, the largest ginkgo in Victoria and possibly in Australia. Garden staff look after it, and it is a regular backdrop for wedding photographs. Justin Buckley, the trust's executive manager of gardens and landscapes, called ginkgos living fossils. The lineage dates to the Middle Jurassic, and wild populations survived in China after the trees were once thought gone from the wild. Buckley said the Geelong tree has grown odd hanging forms on its trunk and branches, the kind usually seen only on much older specimens. Local legend says a ship's captain delivered the seed when he called at the port in 1859.
The trust wants statutory protection for trees already on its significant-tree register. The contest names a favorite. It does not, by itself, change the law.
For the classroom
ABC News reported that a ginkgo in Geelong Botanic Gardens was voted Victoria's Tree of the Year. The National Trust of Australia runs the contest, and this tree got 27 percent of the votes. It was planted in 1859, so it is 167 years old, and it stands about 20 metres tall, the largest ginkgo in Victoria and possibly in Australia. A story at the gardens says a ship's captain brought the seed that year. Ginkgos are an ancient kind of tree. The trust would like old trees to have stronger legal protection. The vote names a favorite. It does not change the law.
- How old was this tree when it was planted, compared with things you know from history class?
- Why might people want a law that protects an old tree?
- What is the oldest tree you have ever stood under?
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