Efforts fail to save St David’s Park giant sequoias from being felled Genevieve Holding March 27, 2026 - 1:35PM
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City of Hobart Greening Lead Ruby Wolfe. The two giant sequoia trees in St David's Park have been deemed beyond saving and will be removed. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones
Two historic giant sequoia trees in a Hobart park will be cut down after attempts by council to save them failed.
Hobart Council staff made the announcement on the future of the two trees in St David’s Park, first planted in 1937 to commemorate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
The largest of the two giant sequoias is 32 metres tall and 8.6m wide around its base.
The second stands 30m tall and measures 8.7m in circumference at its base.
Tree experts and arborists from Hobart City Council in autumn last year noticed that one of the trees was starting to “turn brown”.
The two giant sequoia trees in St David's Park have been deemed beyond saving and will be removed. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones
City of Hobart City Greening Lead Ruby Wolfe said council began investigating the cause, but that the tree “very rapidly declined”, followed by the second tree in January this year.
“Both have now reached a point where there’s really nothing we can do to save them and we’re planning to remove them,” she said.
“All of us are devastated really because they’re such beautiful large trees, but also we get a lot of comments from the community, people who have reached out and said ‘we love these trees’ and ‘we got married under here’ or ‘our kids came and played underneath them’ so what this has really brought to our attention is just how important big trees are in our city and how people really connect with them and love them.”
Ms Wolfe said the decline of the giant sequoias was likely due to a variety of factors over the past three years, including repeated fires at the tree’s base, contaminants and fire‑retardant foam entering the soil, removal of topsoil to address hazardous debris left under the tree including needles and glass, soil compaction, irrigation leaks causing saturation, and the presence of fungal pathogens.
The two giant sequoias in St David's Park, early 20th century. Picture: supplied by City of Hobart
Two young giant sequoias will replace them, with Ms Wolfe explaining the giant sequoia species was generally long-living but was more vulnerable to factors such as heat and soil in urban areas.
“We will replace them with two small giant sequoias and they’ve been sourced from a local nursery, and we will plant them at the same time as the 100-year anniversary of St David’s Park,” she said.
Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said she understood the people of Hobart would be “heartbroken” by the news.
“At just 88 years of age, these giant sequoias were just babes in the woods,” she said.
“Giant sequoias can live to be over 3000 years old.
“Our arborist team have done everything they can to save these forest giants, including carrying out a three-stage soil microbiology treatment to try and breathe new life into the trees’ root system.
Hobart City Council workers doing maintenance in St David's Park around the base of giant sequoias. One is showing significant signs of stress. Picture: Philip Young
“We will soon start the removal of these trees from St David’s Park, a huge task that could take up to a week to complete.
“Sections of the park will be closed during these removal works and we ask that the public follow local directions to ensure everyone is safe.”
The wood from the two sequoias will be used in City of Hobart projects, including a new waterfront interpretation project.
The council will also look for opportunities to repurpose the wood in other ways, including for arts and cultural projects with the broader community.
The Mercury reported in 2024 that a fire tore through a homeless camp at the base of the tree, damaging the tree and displacing the people living beneath it.
genevieve.holding@news.com.au
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