Excursion Report: Sherwood Arboretum, 30 March 2025

Excursion Leader: Barry Jenke

Sherwood Arboretum celebrates 100 eventful years – 21 March 2025

Sherwood Arboretum, Brisbane’s botanic garden of Australian native trees, last month celebrated a landmark birthday, 100 years since it was founded on 21 March 1925.

To mark this once-in-a lifetime milestone, our club visited the 15-ha heritage-listed Arboretum last Sunday 30 March to explore the collection of more than 1300 native trees and also the fascinating environment of this riverside botanic garden. Friends of Sherwood Arboretum (FOSA) president, Andrew Benison gave us a shortoutline on the Arboretum’s history before we all set off to explore the Arboretum’s different botanic destinations and environments, including estuarine mangroves andfresh-water wetlands. Sherwood Arboretum, of course, has a special place in the history of The Queensland Naturalists’ Club.

Three prominent early members of the club were among the original 72 Brisbane citizens who planted the historic Queensland Kauri Avenue on World Forestry Day in 1925, to establish the Arboretum. These include Henry Tryon (tree 56) (header photo left), George Herbert Barker (tree 41) (header photo centre), and President of the QNC at the time) and Dr Alfred Jefferis Turner (tree 62) (header photo right). You can catch-up on the history of these passionate naturalists by visiting the Sherwood Arboretum website of FOSA or by taking a walk along the Kauri Avenue.

On the opposite page are a collage  of photos of the QNC group excursion on 30 March 2025, as well some general photos of the Arboretum supplied by Andrew Benison and QNC club members.