The Early Days

When John Woodley bought his Taggerty property in 1994, it was a desolate rural block of land; hardly a tree in sight and a far cry from what it has developed into now.

John's orginal intention was to establish an agroforestry property, growing trees for eventual harvest and being converted into timber products.

Here he discusses the early days of the property with local arborist John Coyne.

NOTE: to see Captions for each video below, click on the CC button at the bottom right of the video, and then select English CC from the window that appears.

Initially, John established a shelterbelt on the western side of the property, to protect future trees on the property from the prevailing south-westerly winds. Here he discusses the structure of the shelterbelt, with it's various plantings, with John Coyne.

One of the first tree species planted at Taggerty Arboretum was Radiata Pine, both in the shelterbelt and as a sub-plantation on the southern side of the property. Here the two Johns talk about the establishment, maintenance and thinning of the pines. In case anyone ever tells you that agroforestry plantations don't attract birdlife, just listen to the background of this video, or check the list of birds seen at Taggerty Arboretum here.

The initial species that gave John the most trouble, and from which he learnt most, was the Cupresses Macrocarpa (Monterey Cypress). Most of the initial plantings failed, and had to be replaced with other types of Cypress. Here John describes what went wrong, and how he adapted to it.

In the following year, John started the plantation proper when he planted three types of tree; Eucalyptus Nitens (shining gum), Radiata Pine and Cypress Macrocarpa.

Here he discusses the successes and failures of those early plantings with John Coyne.

The planting of the Ovensii Cypress has resolved a lot of issues faced in the Cypress plantings, and provides a transquil setting for a walk among the trees.

As well as being a beautiful planting of trees, the Pines have also proved to provide a special environment for various artistic endeavours including this recording of "Oh Christmas Tree" with a very local flavour, by The Saturday Singers.