At a board meeting held last Wednesday, the board adopted a recommendation to add the avenue of English oak trees to its state register. 

The listing includes all of the trees lining the avenue, and parts of the avenue to where the original bridge was washed away by flood waters in the 1950s. 

The National Trust advocacy manager Graham Quint said the listing was a significant milestone for the avenue. 

“The trust was aware of the avenue and the trees before the listing was presented,” Mr Quint said. 

The report presented to the trust for consideration before adopting the listing detailed its origins, including that the original planting of the trees, in 1936, comprised 318 trees, planted along the Lower Nemingha Rd, which was subsequently renamed King George V Memorial Avenue. 

The National Trust was the first body in Australia to begin heritage listing procedures in the 1940s. 

Mr Quint said while the listing was not legally binding, it often led to heritage listings on state and local council heritage lists and was the first step towards a state heritage listing. 

“The NSW National Trust is involved with all other National Trusts who are in the process of setting up an Australian significant tree register,” he said. 

“The trees in Tamworth’s King George V Ave will be one of the first nominations we intend to put forward as a nomination to go on to that national list.”

Mr Quint said the trust believed the Tamworth avenue of trees was unlike any other. 

“It’s unique because of a number of reasons, but primarily because of the historical significance in being named after King George V, the relationship to Tamworth’s diamond jubilee and the fact it is the only avenue of English oaks that has gown to create a natural, cathedral-like canopy.”

Mr Quint said into the future the National Trust would keep a close eye on the avenue as part of its listing.

That monitoring will include ensuring maintenance of the trees and protecting it from any detrimental development.