Volunteers across at least three states put native seedlings into the ground over the weekend, as Planet Ark’s National Tree Day marked 30 years and a national tally of past 28 million trees since 1996. That is according to The Canberra Times, which reported that tens of thousands of Australians are taking part in an event timed for winter so seedlings can set deep roots before the summer heat.
“National Tree Day has inspired millions of Australians to take positive environmental action,” Planet Ark chief executive Adam Culley said of a campaign entering its fourth decade with Coles as major sponsor for the first time, and the retailer equipping five hero sites across the country for the anniversary year.
Sydney’s south drew planters to the new M6 cycleway, where Bayside Council scheduled 1,000 native seedlings for Scarborough Park. Logan City Council ran three morning sites at Eagleby Wetlands, Bega Park, and Riverside Park, as part of thousands of natives being planted across the Queensland city this month.
Further north, Noosa Council added more than 2,000 native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers to its list for Bagnalls Bushland Reserve in Cooroy, extending a revegetation project within the Mary River catchment. Victoria’s Whitehorse City Council took its volunteers to Cootamundra Walk East in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, the latest stage of a green corridors program running since 2023.
“Trees and plants cool our suburbs, reduce pollution, make our natural areas beautiful,” Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown said, with her council running simultaneous plantings from 9.30 am on Sunday at Robbins Creek in Horsley and at Berkeley on the Lake Illawarra foreshore.
“Students enjoy a fun, hands-on experience and can see the results of their efforts,” Wagga Wagga City Council environmental education officer Christina Reid said, after the council supplied 2,099 native seedlings to 20 schools and preschools for Friday’s Schools Tree Day. Those seedlings feed a One Tree for Me program, which has a 65,000-seedling target across the city’s urban area.
It comes as Forestry Australia released nine tips on Thursday for keeping the weekend’s seedlings alive, with the association putting as much weight on species choice and the years of care after planting as on the day itself.
Planet Ark makes the industry case in its own campaign material, counting trees as natural carbon sequesters and their timber as a renewable building material that stores carbon, and the charity has set Tropical Tree Day for Sunday, 6 December.
Australians were planting in organised groups long before Planet Ark’s three decades, and The Canberra Times traces Victoria’s first Arbor Day to Ballarat in 1890, when citizens put more than 3,000 elms, planes, cedars, oaks, and poplars into a mined-out site in 30 minutes.
