The 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II has been commemorated with a tree-planting ceremony on the grounds of Sydney Adventist Hospital.
An advanced blackbutt was the first of 700 trees to be planted on the Wahroonga Estate – 10 for each of the late monarch’s years as head of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.
The project is part of the Australian Government’s Planting Trees for The Queen’s Jubilee Program, an extension of her Green Canopy initiative that started in 2021 and has been extended until March 2023.
“We are grateful to have this opportunity to commemorate the late Queen Elizabeth II and her remarkable 70 years of service,” Adventist Healthcare CEO Brett Goods said.
New South Wales’ largest private hospital has been based in the 65-hectare space on Sydney’s Upper North Shore since its origins as a sanitarium in the early 1900s – it is still colloquially known as “the San”.
The land, bought by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1898, features an environmental conservation zone known as the ‘Jewel of Lane Cove’ and connects Ku-ring-gai Council’s reserves to the national park.
“The hospital is proud to support the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the maintenance of this important wildlife corridor,” Mr Goods said.
“The trees will be a welcome addition to our bushland surroundings.”
As well as the trees – all native varieties, including gum, wattle and red cedar – commemorative signage will be installed to create awareness of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The site is open to the public, being popular with bushwalkers, bird watchers and mountain bike riders.
“It is home to around 56 species of birds, and a variety of animal life including possums, bandicoots and echidnas,” said Seventh-day Adventist Church environmental officer Jayden Streatfeild, who is overseeing the planting project.
“And recently, we’ve observed that wallabies have returned to the Wahroonga Estate after many years – and that’s an exciting discovery for the diversity of the environment.”
