Street tree planting in City of Melbourne - a brief history

It's fascinating to zoom in on this 1960s aerial view of Melbourne central business district.

There's barely a street tree in sight!

That wasn't always the case.

In the late 1870s and 1880s, Melbourne City Council initiated a street tree planting program to make the city "a more pleasant and healthful place of residence", to quote The Argus.

As can be seen in the 1881 image of William Street below, many of these trees were planted in the roadway.

In the 1930s, sentiment towards street tree planting seemed to shift.

The trees in William Street, for example, came to be viewed as "an unnecessary obstruction to traffic" and "a menace to motorists attempting to park their cars". Consequently, they were to be removed, possibly to be replaced by trees in the footpath.

By 1945, the remaining street trees were confined mostly to King Street and Exhibition Street medians, and a patchwork in the old Hoddle Grid.

Indeed, until the early 1970s Council had a policy of not planting trees in footpaths less than 4 metres wide or near underground utilities. This policy was overturned in 1972 and street tree planting in the city resumed.

As you can see in the image below, by 1983 trees had returned to William Street, but now in the footpath.

In 100 years, sentiment had come full circle, again allowing street trees to transform the city into "a more pleasant and healthful place".

There are currently over 2,250 street trees in the central city. Planes, weeping myrtles and gums dominate. But species such as firewheel tree, kurrajong, sweet gum, blueberry ash and camphor laurel are increasing in number as we prepare that more pleasant and healthful place for a warming climate.

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