It stands as a centrepiece in Belmore Park and people pass it every day.
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While the tall Lady Belmore oak tree is well known as a marker for railway's arrival in Goulburn in 1869, little is known about its origin.
In that year, Market Square was renamed Belmore Park in honour of Lord and Lady Belmore's visit to Goulburn, expressly to open the railway. The latter duly planted the now grand oak.
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An 'old Goulburnite,' Matilda Gillard of 8 Deccan Street' recalled the momentous event in the December 18, 1935 Goulburn Evening Penny Post edition.
Mrs Gillard was almost 100 years old and was described as a 'remarkably active' woman who still took a keen interest in life. She could remember events in the city's history, long forgotten by many old residents.
She had grown up in Goulburn and later met and married Henry Gillard, storekeeper to James Chisholm MLA, of Kippilaw, a large pastoral estate west of the city. The young couple spent several years of their married life at the property.
In 1935 Mrs Gillard told the GEPP she vividly remembered Mr Chisholm requesting her husband to take a young oak sapling grown on the estate into Goulburn to be planted by Lady Belmore on May 27, 1869 to mark the railway's opening.
"Mrs Gillard remembers the journey into Goulburn with that young tree clearly," the article stated.
"She remembers, too, what a red letter day it was for Goulburn when the Governor's lady performed the planting ceremony. She recalled the scene with the crowds of Goulburn citizens standing by, and remembers, too, how she stood on one side and watched the gracious Lady Belmore as she planted the tree grown on the Kippilaw estate and which has now grown to a stout oak tree, an eternal reminder of an epoch-making event in Goulburn's history.
"Mrs Gillard has watched the Belmore Park oak tree grow to its present beauty, and with the passing years she has seen the city expand to its present size and importance. Many changes have taken place in Auburn Street and in other streets since that far-off day. Many have been of recent occurrence, but many took place in years gone by."
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According to research by Goulburn and District Historical and Genealogical Society member, Roger Bayley, the first oak tree in the area was said to have grown from an acorn planted by the explorer Hamilton Hume. Like 'the legendary Johnny Appleseed,' he planted an acorn at each of his campsites.
"Hume and Hovell stayed the night at Alexander Kinghorne's home (a slab hut) at Cardross (another Chisholm property next to Kippilaw), on the way to their discovery of Port Phillip in 1824," the research stated.
"The site of this old house is marked by four oak trees which can be seen from the Kippilaw Church. As Hume carried an acorn with him and is reputed to have planted one at each of his campsites, it is possible that these oaks came from Hume's pocket."
Alexander Kinghorne's daughter, Elizabeth, later married James Chisholm and the couple were given a section of Cardross as a wedding present in 1826. They called it the Kippilaw estate, and the site of the original slab hut is said to be just west of the row of oak trees on the flat near Kippilaw homestead.
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