In 1994, David Noble, a ranger with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, was exploring a remote gorge in the Wollemi Wilderness when he came upon a group of trees that he did not recognise and he took samples for identification. Soon the species, known up till then only in fossil records, in the Araucariaceae (monkey puzzle) family, was described and much excitement was generated worldwide. A further two groups of Wollemi pine, quite close to each other, were found but in total there were only 100 trees, including one thought to be 1,000 years old, and 40m high. That these trees were growing within 200 km of Sydney added to the interest.
To safeguard the tree's future, the authorities decided to propagate and offer it for sale internationally in order to fund its conservation programme. Sir David Attenborough planted a specimen in 2005 which was enclosed in a cage outside the Orangery at Kew, while later that year the hype culminated in an auction by Sotheby’s of 300 plants grown from cuttings from named trees in the Wollemi gorge. Our Wollemia was planted out in this spot in the Gardens in 2009.
Wollemia nobilis is proving to be fast growing and hardier than expected, helped by a resin called the ‘polar cap’ which grows over the terminal buds in winter.
