Whether you’re walking down leafy streets of the city centre or enjoying a bushwalk under the forest canopy in one of Auckland’s 28 regional parks, trees are part of our region’s special character. In 2024, Tāmaki Makaurau was, for the fourth year in a row, named one of the Tree Cities of the World by the non-profit Arbor Day Foundation and the UN’s The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The award recognises cities for their “green vision” and policy around urban and community forestry.
Approximately 750,000 trees were planted in Auckland in 2023 as part of the region’s Urban Ngahere (Forest) Strategy. There are also many notable trees in Auckland that have been legally protected due to their cultural and historical significance. In honour of Arbor Day on 5 June, here are a few of Auckland’s beautiful trees to visit to celebrate our leafy city.
1. Visit the giants
Parry Kauri Park in Warkworth features several kauri trees which can be easily enjoyed from a spectacular boardwalk. The park was originally part of a property owned by Reverend Robert McKinney, the first minister of the Presbyterian Church in Warkworth and Mahurangi. The land was later purchased by the Simpson family, who requested that on the sale of their land, the trees and bush on the site become a public park in the future. The two biggest kauri in the park are named McKinney and Simpson in honour of these early owners. McKinney Kauri is approximately 37m tall with a girth of 1068cm, and Simpson Kauri is 37m tall with a girth of 775cm.
Former kauri bushmen Harry Parry and Tudor Collins once made a living by cutting down kauri, but later in life they fought to protect these forest giants. The pair were part of the Warkworth Kauri and Native Bushman’s Society, and in the 1960s the organisation was instrumental in raising £4000 to save the kauri trees and form Parry Park Kauri, next to Warkworth Museum.
2. Meet an early settler
At an impressive 28m tall, with a girth of 750cm and a canopy crown spread of 37m, the Angophora costata or smooth-barked apple on Williams Road in Hobsonville is the largest in Australasia, and quite possibly the world. This protected notable tree is said to have been planted by New Zealand’s first Governor, Governor Hobson more than 160 years ago.
The Angophora costata or smooth-barked apple tree on Williams Street in Hobsonville is the largest of its kind in Australia, possibly the world.
William Hobson, who died in 1842, arranged the drafting of the Treaty of Waitangi, and during his governorship made Auckland the capital of New Zealand. Over the years, this tree has been cared for by Auckland Council arborists to protect this unique piece of history.
3. Walk through the urban ngahere
In the city centre, Albert Park and Myers Park are well known for their many notable historic and exotic trees, which can be enjoyed on the Albert to Myers Urban Ngahere Path. The trees are marked on a handy map so you can identify them as you go.
In Myers Park, there’s an avenue of Phoenix palms planted around 1915, as well as the biggest swamp cypress in New Zealand. In Albert Park, there are several interesting species, including 16 oaks that were planted in 1908 around the bandstand circle, each planted by a captain of a ship in the US Navy’s Great White Fleet.
An 11m-tall ombu is one of several hundred exotic species planted by former NZ Governer Sir George Grey in the 1870s. Hailing from South America, the ombu has root systems that can grow 4m across. The soft roots are made up of around 80 per cent water, a fire-resistant adaptation to its native homeland.
The ombu tree in Albert Park was one of more than 200 exotic specimens donated to the park by former governor Sir George Grey.
Near the University of Auckland and Waterloo Quadrant, there are two notable native trees including a rimu planted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and a kauri planted by Governor-General Sir Bernard Fergusson in 1967. The kauri was planted from a seed retrieved from Tāne Mahuta, Aotearoa’s largest living kauri.
4. See the French connection
One of the most quirky trees in Auckland is the Harvey Tree, planted on Albert Street in the central city. The Harvey Tree is an oriental plane tree, first planted by businessman Les Harvey in the 1960s. The tree was gifted to Les by a diplomat in Paris who knew that Les had spent some of his youth in the French capital. The tree was propagated from one beside a Montmartre pissoir (urinal) and the note from the diplomat told Les to “plant it in a spot he loved and to give it a little bit of what it was used to”.
When the original Harvey Tree had to be removed due to its roots entangling pipelines, an offspring was propagated from it. The original tree was itself propagated from a tree in Paris and planted on Albert Street by Les Harvey in the 1960s.
Harvey planted the tree in a hole in the sidewalk and “gave the plant sustenance” for many years. The roots of the tree became entangled in pipes nearby and the original tree had to be removed, but not before being propagated. An offspring of the original Harvey Tree is now marked with a plaque near the future Te Waihorotiu Station.
5. Enjoy more than green
While Auckland is known for being green, there are many locations to see autumn colour on the deciduous trees in the city. Mayoral Drive is a listed avenue of trees, planted in tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) which transform into a range of reds, oranges and yellows in the cooler months. Hobson and Nelson Streets in the central city have American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), a species known for its spectacular colour.
Heritage London plane trees on Franklin Road, Greys Avenue, Vincent Street, Grafton Road and Symonds Street are autumnal icons of Auckland, and the ones in Victoria Park were planted by US troops after WWII.
Many of these trees are protected in the Notable Tree Schedule in the Auckland Unitary Plan, and further trees have been planted as part of the CRL Urban Ngahere (Forest) Planting Programme.
