Giant Guildford river redgum named Victorian Tree of the Year

National Trust Victoria announced the win last week, after the 32m high eucalyptus camaldulensis emerged victorious from a public vote between a shortlist of nine contenders.

The giant eucalypt beat out a Toorak lemon-scented gum, Echuca long-leaved Indian pine and a Portarlington Moreton Bay Fig, among others, for the title.

National Trust Victoria described the tree as "an outstanding example of a mature river red gum", which was one of the largest of its kind in Victoria.

Despite "a small amount of deadwood and several cavities" the tree was generally in excellent condition and sported a large natural branch graft on its northern side, the Trust said.

Guildford resident Ray Pattle reported locals were very happy and proud to hear of the win.

The community had a serious affection for "the big tree", which has its own park, and is a focal point of the area, he said.

"Everybody loves the big tree.

"It's a very popular spot. They have weddings and picnics under it, and every year during our banjo jamboree there are jams and photos there."

Other townspeople have referred to the hundreds of visitors the tree receives of a weekend, and the corellas, cockatoos, rosellas and crows that nest in its canopy.

As huge as it is, the tree is a diminished version of its former self, Mr Pattle said, in particular due to a violent windstorm in 2015 that cost it around 20 per cent of its volume.

"Over its life lots of the branches have snapped off, and parrots and beehives and other birdlife have made their homes in the hollow."

The tree was "basically hollow inside", a fact which had saved it, he said.

"The only reason it still stands is because it's useless. Because it was big and hollow it was useless."

Mr Pattle, an amateur local historian, said while the Trust estimated it to be at least 500 years old, he had heard a heritage arborist put the tree's age at closer to 1000.

He had also heard it was significant to local Dja Dja Wurrung as a "guiding post".

The tree marked the only place for around 20km in either direction where the Loddon River could be forded, he said, and according to the account he had heard, it was used to navigate by Indigenous groups who travelled regularly between the Muckleford and Mount Franklin areas.

The tree was visible from a high headland at Yapeen, where the Dja Dja Wurrung would camp and light a fire to let the Mount Franklin mob know they were coming, he said.

Its grafted branch, which had been turned back on itself and regrown to form a type of ring, meant the tree was "a ring tree", which was recognisable to Indigenous people as a signpost of some kind, he said.

Dja Dja Wurrung Group CEO Rodney Carter said he was not in a position to provide information about the Guildford tree.

But he said that trees, known as galk-galk, "in a Dja Dja Wurrung landscape are actively managed for their role in supporting life".

"A galk of great age like this strikes everyone, as its presence has an inherent beauty and strength and we treat it with awe and respect," he said.

"It has been our friend for hundreds of years, watched us, listened to our songs and stories and reminds us that non-Djaara occupation of this country is very recent."

The Trust takes nominations from the public for the Victorian Tree of the Year competition, of trees which have been listed on the Australia-wide Significant Tree Register.

It then sends a "volunteer expert significant tree committee" out to inspect and shortlist them, with judgements based on size, form and even popularity.

The Guildford gum was nominated to the Significant Tree Register in 1986, and was visited by the competition committee in 2004, 2010 and most recently, 2021, before its October 2023 win.

According to Mr Pattle, the question of who had nominated it this time around was something of a local mystery.