Take a stroll through Central Park Armidale

07/11/2024 Richard Single 562 Views 0 Comments

By Richard Single

Central Park in Armidale plays a crucial role in the city’s public life, serving as the backdrop for a variety of significant community events. From vibrant light festivals to ANZAC Day commemorations, citizenship ceremonies, and other memorial gatherings, this park is a central hub for both celebration and reflection in the community. As well as offering comforting shade during the summer months, Central Park holds a number of horticultural secrets that not everyone knows about.

The two-hectare park has one of the finest collections of conifers in regional NSW. It contains an unusual collection of nationally rare trees, including the Lucombe Oak, Southern Live Oak and Douglas Fir.

Lucombe Oak (Quercus × hispanica ‘Lucombeana’) is a hybrid between the Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris) and the Cork Oak (Quercus suber), first raised by nurseryman William Lucombe in Exeter, England, around 1762. The Cork Oak is evergreen, and the Turkey Oak is deciduous. Except in harsh weather, the hybrids will keep their leaves through winter, dropping them just before new growth appears in Spring.

Lucombe’s original hybrid was highly valued for timber, as it produced strong, durable wood. Three Lucombe Oaks exist in Central Park, having been planted in the 1870s. Two of them have a DBH (diameter at breast height) of over 140cm, an average height of 13m, and a canopy spread of 16m.

The Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) is a striking tree. It features a broad, spreading canopy with thick, twisted branches that often extend horizontally. The leaves are dark green, shiny, and oval-shaped, staying on the tree throughout the year, which is why it’s called “live”. The bark is rough and deeply grooved. Seven Southern Live Oak trees are planted on the park’s boundary, of which six have been clipped annually, and date back to the early 1950s.

Clipped Southern Live Oak, Quercus virginiana — Clipped Southern Live Oak, *Quercus virginiana*

Conifers onsite include the Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica), Himalayan Cedar (Cedrus deodara), Chinese Weeping Cypress (Cupressus funebris), Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), Bhutan Cypress (Cupressus torulosa), Mexican Cypress (Hesperocyparis lusitanica), Monterey Cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa), Arizona Cypress (Hesperocyparis arizonica), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Canary Island Pine (Pinus canariensis), Western Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).

The park was awarded State Heritage Status in 2018 as an outstanding example of a substantially intact High Victorian formal town park incorporating many elements of its type, and demonstrably influencing the townscape of an important NSW inland city. “Central Park is of local heritage significance for its strong and demonstrated association with Charles Moore who, for over 48 years, was Director of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney,” according to the NSW Environment and Heritage website. “Moore founded the State Nursery (Campbelltown), which, in despatching trees all over NSW, was instrumental in the horticultural development of public spaces throughout NSW. Central Park is also associated with Dr Lional Gilbert, a nationally known botanical scholar and teacher who is a long resident of New England.”

Central Park is also of state heritage significance for two of its war memorials. The war memorial band rotunda is the only one in NSW, and potentially in Australia, built solely in commemoration of the South African War (Boer War). Likewise, the Great War memorial fountain is the only one in NSW, and potentially in Australia, built solely to commemorate that conflict.