King Billy pines are estimated to grow for up to 2000 years, while the subalpine pencil pines can have 1000 years on the clock.
The Huon pine is Australia's oldest living tree and is one of the oldest living organisms on earth. Individuals have been known to reach an age of 3,000 years. Fossil records from a tree found in a boggy area in the south west of Tasmania were dated at 3,462 years!
Approximately 350 years old, it was burned in April 2003, and died in December 2003, as the result of catching fire in a burn-off of the debris remaining after the clear-felling of old-growth forest in the tree's immediate vicinity.
Australia's oldest tree is a huon pine located in the Lake Johnston Nature Reserve in Tasmania on Mount Reed. It is believed to be part of a stand of trees and clonal colony that dates to 10,500 years ago, though no individual tree in the stand is of that age. The oldest is believed to be about 2,000 years old.
It may be more than 60 million years old. The Wollemi pine clones itself, forming exact genetic copies. It was thought to be extinct until a tiny remnant population was discovered in Wollemi National Park in 1994. The trunk of the oldest above-ground component, known as the Bill Tree, is about 400-450 years old.
Deep in the forests of southern Tasmania stands a 500-year-old giant. The tree — considered to be the world's biggest known remaining blue gum — is named Lathamus Keep for its role as a stronghold for the endangered swift parrot or Lathamus discolor.
In eastern California, a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) known as Methuselah has long been considered Earth's oldest living thing. According to tree-ring data, Methuselah is 4,853 years old — meaning it was well established by the time ancient Egyptians built the pyramids at Giza.
The tallest of all the Tasmanian giant trees is Centurion, another Eucalyptus regnan standing over 100.5 metres tall (third tallest tree in the world).
It is also home to the world's tallest flowering plant and one of the world's tallest trees — the eucalyptus regnans, often called mountain ash or swamp gum. These towering gums are thought to grow to 100 metres or more, with the tallest living tree on record being Centurion in Tasmania at a confirmed 99.6 metres.
Centurion is the name given to a single Eucalyptus regnans tree growing in Southern Tasmania, Australia, and the world's tallest known Eucalyptus.
Deciduous Beech (Fagus)
Head on up to the high reaches of Tasmania to find the Deciduous Beech. It's the country's only cold-climate deciduous tree and it only grows in Tasmania.
People have lived in, used, managed and modified the forest landscapes of lutruwita for at least 35,000 years. December 2022 marked 40 years since the formation of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
The giant Eucalyptus regnans (swamp gum) is almost 60 meters high and the broadest living tree in Australia, measuring breathtaking 19.4 meters.
In terms of the age structure, Tasmania is often referred to as Australia's oldest state.
The largest and oldest-known living plant on Earth has been discovered in Australia. Posidonia australis is an ancient and incredibly resilient seagrass that has been discovered in Shark Bay, Western Australia. It's at least 4,500 years old and spans 180km of shallow ocean.
The tallest tree in the country, Centurion, is in Tasmania. It was last officially measured at 99.8m tall, but recent unconfirmed measurements suggest it may now be over 100m. Despite widespread land clearing, Australia still supports some of the biggest trees in the world, but we are at risk of losing them.
THE TALLEST TREE IN THE WORLD: THE HYPERION
The world's largest tree is the Hyperion, which is a coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and is located somewhere in the heart of Redwood National Park inCalifornia. How tall is the tallest tree in the world? The Hyperion reaches a staggering 380 feet tall!
The coast redwood (sequoia sempervirens) tree is 115.92 meters (380 feet) tall and its name is derived from Greek mythology – Hyperion was one of the Titans and the father of sun god Helios and moon goddess Selene. Hyperion's trunk diameter is 4.84 meters (13 feet).
Ancient pines
These shaggy, slow-growing conifers are endemic to Tasmania, and have long been prized for their timber, especially among shipbuilders. Huon pines have been known to grow for more than 2000 years, which makes them one of the oldest living organisms on the planet.
Tasmania has a unique assemblage of Australian animals, including the three largest extant (living) marsupial predators - Tasmanian devil, spotted-tailed quoll and eastern quoll.
The Blue Tree Project has flourished into a charity helping change the way we talk about mental health after Jayden Whyte took his own life in 2018. The blue trees now dotted across Australia and other parts of the world, act as beacons of hope & conversation starters.
Most of us learned as children that the age of a tree could be found by counting its rings. Rings of trees growing in temperate climates can indeed tell their age through their annual rings and also help determine the age of wood used to construct buildings or wooden objects.
The oldest single living thing on the planet is a gnarled tree clinging to rocky soil in the White Mountains of California. This Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) has withstood harsh winds, freezing temperatures and sparse rainfall for more than 5,000 years.
Some trees can live for centuries or even millennia but the secrets behind their long life spans have eluded scientists. However, new research has found that the ginkgo tree, which can live more than 1,000 years, doesn't really show any expected effects of aging — they appear to be primed for immortality.