The Fossil Grove micro-hike is a short bushwalk in South Hobart, within Wellington Park. It is home to some of the area’s oldest and most impressive trees.
Despite its name, there are no fossils in Fossil Grove. Instead, the name refers to a stand of ancient Tasmanian blue gums and stringybarks that survived the devastating Black Tuesday bushfires of 1967.
Wanting to see the grove for myself, I visited on Monday, 15 June, parking my car near the trail entrance on Strickland Avenue.
The track is only around 400 metres long and can be walked in less than 15 minutes, but I took my time to admire the trees along the way.
One of the most striking is a towering stringybark known as the ‘Fossil Giant’. It stands on bits of sandstone that are embedded with the fossilised remains of marine life dating back around 250 million years. The tree itself has stood for centuries, and its hollow trunk and broken limbs now provide shelter for wildlife.
Another notable tree is the ‘Blue Gum Tower’. Estimated to be around 150-years-old, it is still relatively young but already rises above the surrounding canopy, with a straight trunk and evenly spaced branches that hint at its future scale.
The ‘Ancient Blue Gum’ was the highlight of my walk. It is one of the few surviving links to the vast blue gum forests that once covered the slopes of kunanyi / Mount Wellington and stretched all the way down to the River Derwent. These forests were traditionally cared for by the Muwinina people, who used fire to reduce dense undergrowth and maintain open country for travel and hunting. The large hollow at the base of the tree base may have formed from fire damage centuries ago, shaping its distinctive form today.
I spent time circling Fossil Grove to take in the trees from different. Eventually, I made my way back to my car on Strickland Avenue, reflecting once again on the quiet bushland that that lies so close to the edge of Hobart.
Photo gallery
Fossil Grove (Greater Hobart Trails)
Callum J. Jones is passionate about telling stories. He studied English, History, and Journalism at the University of Tasmania and lived in Western Sydney from 2022 to 2024 while working as a journalist for Professional Planner, a leading online publication for financial planners. Callum has written for Tasmanian Times since 2018 and has also been published in a range of other outlets, including Quadrant and the BAD Western Sydney anthologies.
If you’re interested in this article, please join our mailing list. It’s all free … and we won’t share your information with anyone!
If you have any comments you’d like to add to this article, please contribute via this form. We’re trialling this while we work through replacing our comments section.
Truly independent media is a cornerstone of democracy.
Remember: once they gain power the first action of every despot in modern history is to take control of the media, so please consider supporting us.
Your kids will thank you and so will your Granny, but the aspiring despots won’t…
