Trees don’t just line our city streets, they frame our lives, says Brad Cadwallader, an organiser of the Tree of the Year Competition, which celebrates the stories of some of our most notable trees.

By Bill Morris for Frank Film

The annual competition celebrates the stories of some of our most notable native and exotic trees. Trees, Cadwallader says, “safeguard history, support biodiversity, and carry the stories and memories that help define our communities.”

Cadwallader has worked as an arborist for much of his life and is now a tree consultant. “I'm one of the lucky people whose job is their passion,” he tells Frank Film. He calls Nelson home–a city that, thanks to its benign growing climate and long post-colonial history–is full of spectacular exotic trees.

There’s the giant Tasmanian Bluegum at the entrance to Nelson College for Girls, a tree beloved by generations of students, and the enormous macrocarpa and redwood trees in Isel Park. Then there’s the Songer tree, which had to be famously replanted after the man whose name was on the plaque as having planted it –William Songer– failed to turn up on time to do the honours.

But walk around any city or town in New Zealand and you’re likely to find notable trees. We have plenty of magnificent natives, of course, but New Zealand, says Cadwallader, is also particularly good for growing exotics — our cool, temperate environment really favours their growth. So much so that they often grow much bigger here than in their native countries.

As a result, Aotearoa has a number of world record exotic trees. Macrocarpa, radiata pine, Norfolk pine and a number of eucalypt species have all reached their pinnacle in New Zealand soil. Cadwallader recently discovered a world record silver ash hiding in plain sight right next to Nelson’s cathedral – it had previously been misidentified as another species.

Measuring trees is something Cadwallader does a lot of. He runs the New Zealand Tree Register, a database of the country’s most impressive, historically important or beloved trees. Anyone can enter a tree on the register, it just needs to be measured according to an internationally standardized protocol that takes into account the girth, spread and height of the tree. The register, says Cadwallader, exists to celebrate trees of exceptional significance, “ensuring their stories are not forgotten and inspiring communities to value and protect them.”

Cadwallader is often on the road looking for unrecorded trees, which can lurk in the gardens of old homesteads, in small town domains or out in farm paddocks. The hobby, he confesses, has become “a major distraction in my life.” Cadwallader’s tree-hunting sometimes involves seeking out trees he’s found in early historical records, and sometimes it’s just rolling up to a remote farmhouse and asking to take a look around. A good tree hunter, he says, has curious eyes and an inquisitive mind. “They know that every tree has a story—it's simply a matter of finding it. “I'll often arrive at an old farmstead and, after a cup of coffee and a batch of scones, you've had their complete family history.”

Some of New Zealand’s most interesting and spectacular trees are entered in the New Zealand Tree of the Year competition, which is currently in its final week of voting. Finalists this year include a giant mataī in Dunedin, a world record gum tree in Hobsonville, an enormous pūriri in New Plymouth, a macrocarpa in Tawa, an elm by Christchurch’s Avon river, and a Judas tree in Pukekohe.

To read their stories, and to vote, visit https://www.treeoftheyear.co.nz/, voting closes on the 8th of July.

Footage/Photo Credits:

Nelson College for Girls, 1888. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 178795
Tree of Year Sangro Survivor - Matthew Paul - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers
Tree of Year Puriri - Matt Smillie - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers
Tree of the Year Old Goff - Brad Cadwallader - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers
Tree of the Year Kissing Tree - Ra Hammer - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers
Tree of the Year Bucket Tree - Brad Cadwallader - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers
Tree of the Year Bucket Tree 1955 - Evening Post 1955 - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers
Tree of The Year Mighty Mataī - Glenda Bruce - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers
Tree of the Year Mighty Mataī fallen - Gerard O’Brien ODT - Provided by Tree of Year competition organisers

Participants and organisations thanks:
Brad Cadwallader
The New Zealand Notable Trees Trust
Nelson Provincial Museum
Otago Daily Times

Director, Producer and Camera: Gerard Smyth
Second Camera & Researcher: Bill Morris
Line Producers: Kirsty Cooper & Antony Miller
Editor: Sarah Grohnert
Colour & Online: Mike Kelland
Audio Post: Chris Sinclair

Funded by NZ On Air