Community & Business
10 October, 2026
Tree dedication a royal link to Ravenshoe
THE fascinating connections between the town of Ravenshoe, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, a Sydney Plane tree and the House of Commons in London, will be marked with a plaque unveiling ceremony during the upcoming Torimba Festival.
Long-time Ravenshoe resident, Grahame West, who now lives in Atherton, will be dedicating the “Queen’s Tree”, which he planted on the lawn of the Ravenshoe Hotel, to mark the historic links to London.
“When the Queen had her coronation, she came to Australia. This was the first country she came to in the whole world, which was a great accolade for Australia,” he said.
“And she planted a little tree in a square in Sydney.”
That tree was a London Plane tree, planted in February, 1954, at Macquarie Square in front of a crowd of 30,000 people.
“London Planes were invented, they were bred from two completely different trees,” Mr West explained.
They were grafted together to create a tree to handle smog created from the Industrial Revolution. The old trees of London streets had become blackened from smoke and were “horrible”.
“This tree, at the end of each year, sheds all its bark, like a lemon-scented gum tree. So all the black comes off, all the leaves fall off. And in spring, a whole new tree breaks out.”
The trees also became popular in Sydney and Melbourne, but the Ravenshoe tree is likely the only one in the subtropics, Mr West said.
“It was a complete experiment by me. We went down to Sydney and visited the Macquarie Square tree and it was dropping its pods which are filled with seeds.
Despite the odds and advice saying it wasn’t possible as the trees were grafted, Mr West experimented and managed to grow one.
He planted it in the hotel grounds on top of the hill and it is now about 20 feet tall.
This year he is hoping it sheds its bark.
“It will grow into this massive tree, and it’s totally related to the one that the Queen planted. So we call it the ‘Queen’s tree’,” he said.
The tree is also a reminder of the remarkable connections between Ravenshoe and London after WWII.
“In the Second World War, the Queen’s House of Commons ... was incendiary bombed and burnt right out, except for the walls, and it just stood like that right through the war,” Mr West said.
“After the war in the 50s, they rebuilt it... and Ravenshoe supplied all the timber.
“The timbers for rebuilding the Commons were sent by steam train, yet another great link with this story, as Ravenshoe still has the rail line and a steam loco, the only one of its class in the world.
“The railway had a siding into the old Rosenfeld Meixner Sawmill that cut all the Black Walnut timber for the Commons flooring, plus the Black bean timber for the Speaker’s Chair. Rainforest Oak was chosen for the huge roof trusses.”
Mr West, an artist among many other things, created a work depicting the Ravenshoe town, which he then framed with black bean.
By a series of fortunate events and connections, the Wests, while in England, were invited to an event at the House of Commons celebrating Australia’s ties, where he presented his art.
“I’m the only person in Australia who has artwork hanging in the House of Commons,” he said proudly.
In return, he was given an original English oak with gold filigree roof decoration, found in the rubble of the old House of Commons.
There were so many connections behind the Queen’s Tree, he said, so it was fitting for a plaque ceremony during the Torimba Festival, which was “all about timber and the people of Ravenshoe”.
The Torimba Festival Grand Opening is on Friday 10 October, from 1pm, and continues from Saturday 11-25 October daily, 9am-5pm.
