The international National Park City Foundation awarded Adelaide National Park City status in 2021. This made Adelaide the first city in Australia and second in the world (after London) to receive the honour.
To celebrate Adelaide National Park City month in June 2022, a month long celebration to help connect everyone, everywhere and everyday to nature and each other, we invited people to send in a photo of their favourite tree in Campbelltown with a small story. Winners were celebrated at an event at the end of June with prizes awarded for the various categories. See our image gallery below to browse the various entries.
Our Urban Forest includes all of our trees and other vegetation and is a critical part of helping make Adelaide the second city to be awarded ‘National Park City’ status in the world!
Miss the competition?
While the competition has now ended, we'd still love to see your favourite tree and hear your story!
Photo Guidelines
All photos must be of a tree within the Campbelltown Council area.
By submitting your photo into the competition, you acknowledge and agree to this photo being used (with or without attribution) by Council in publications (including Social Media) and also in the Urban Forest Strategy document.
Please submit highest quality image possible (300dpi preferred).
Junior Category (1st Place): "This tree is our favourite because you can stand in it and it looks like a cave. We call it the “tree cave” and we like to imagine all of the things that live in it like spiders and in summer maybe even snakes. We like to go to the tree cave on walks with our Dad and Mum."Junior Category (2nd Place): "1) It gives me oxygen to breathe. 2) I love the colours of the leaves. 3) I want to climb it."Junior Category (Third Place): "The tree that we have selected as our favourite tree here at Guardian Childcare and Education in Paradise, is special to us because in 2019 we had trees donated to us from the Campbelltown council and the children within the centre planted them at the front of the centre . Everyday we checked on them (watered them) and 3 years later and they are our shade for the front foyer of the centre."Youth Category (First Place): "Its a Blue gum grown from seed and planted by my Dad. I was 3 years of age at the time. This is my favourite tree as it provides a lot of habitat of all the birds in the area. In the last few years we have had Galahs, Rosellas, a Possum, and a bee hive take up residence. We have had multiple families of birds grow up in our tree using the bird boxes we erected. These came from the local Faunature box maker. It provides good shade to our house as it is located in the western side of our block. We had to cover the bottom half of the tree with a shade cloth so that the Galahs didn't remove the bark, as they tend to do before nesting. As my Dad grows native plants underneath, we tend to find small Blue gums growing in the trays."Open Category (First Place): "Located on Ghost tree Gully track is has an eerie presence with branches like arms, providing shelter and comfort for those underneath. It has helped me through some hard times, sitting underneath brings calmness and connection to the local community."Open Category (Second Place): "I visit this tree most days of the week on my walks and every day it has new joy to share. The photo is of it turning gold as it captures the last of the evening light. Other days it is alive with the noise and colour of parrots and magpies. At times it is a safe haven for a young koala and her baby. I love seeing its bark turn silver and then shed to reveal its smooth white new skin. On hot days it provides shade to sit under, on others protection from drizzle. It really is a beautiful tree within a stand of magnificent gums. Nothing says Australia and home to me than our beautiful eucalyptus."Open Category (Third Place): "Although I have been in SA for over 60yrs I still have loyalties to the East Coast. I have many relations in or around Grafton, the Jacaranda Capital of Australia so this beautiful specimen of a Jacaranda Tree in Kym Street, Athelstone brings back many memories of my youth. For nearly 20 years I drove past this tree, morning and evening, on my journey to work and in spring it never ceased to amaze me with its beauty especially when the Illawarra Flame Tree planted next to it was also in bloom. Although, not an Australian native it is so well established in Australia that it is very familiar."Open Category: "Our tree is affectionately named 'Steve'. At 7.45m circumference at 1m above ground and approximately 35m tall, this River Red Gum is one of the largest and oldest trees in the Council area with an estimated age of 300 years. We enjoy the abundant birdlife (e.g. owls, lorikeets, cockatoos, galahs, ducks) and other animals (e.g. geckos) that call it home."Open Category: "This magnificent tree, which is called the Tree of Life, was alive before European occupation and continues to provide a habitat for local flora and fauna."Open Category: "This is a photo of a set of four Boab Trees (Adansonia Gregorii) which are native to Australia. These mature trees were in Lochiel Park when the Village was developed in 2008. However, they were relocated twice within the Village before being returned to their original spot on the Village Green. Thirteen years later and they are healthy and happy. They may not be pretty with their round tummies, but I admire them as they are unusual, have attitude and withstood being dug up and re planted which shows determination. I feel privileged that we have them in our back yard."Open Category: "This is my favourite tree because it stands in stark contrast to all of the other trees in the area, leafless and lonesome, a sort of pale ghost that provides a safe home for Rainbow Lorikeets. The way that Winter rain darkens and stains the silvery bark is also beautiful."Open Category: "This tree accompanied by more of the same tree has been my very favourite tree for many years and always makes me feel happy every time I walk at Thorndon Park. I could look at this very tall tree/s with an amazing canopy all day, if I could. It/they remind me of another place, close to my heart. My emotions come to the fore every time I look at it/them. I know I am in Australia, Adelaide, Thorndon Park but I feel like I am living in two different places. As I am walking and reach this particular spot, my mind goes back in time whilst on a holiday to Naples,Italy. These same trees line the hilltop of the Bay of Naples and have been placed on postcards that highlight their beauty. So every time I look at them that includes the position of where they are overlooking the Reservoir, I feel that over the other side of the tree/trees could be the Bay of Naples. An unbelievable spot that immersed me in nature and it's amazing beauty! Also the tree/trees have been at Thorndon Park for as long as I can remember. I have memories as a child of going on family picnics at Thorndon Park and sitting on a rug under these magnificent trees and dreaming and admiring it/them. Beautiful memories that are very important to me."Open Category: "This gum tree was planted just over 20 years ago when we moved into our house. It met a mishap early in life and was left with one horizontal branch after the trunk was caught on a lawnmower. I staked the branch and it took over as the main trunk with a noticeable bend for about a decade. This tree supplies much appreciated shade to our backyard and provides habitat to native birds."Open Category: "This Valencia orange tree, located in the Campbelltown Community Orchard, is for me, the quintessential metaphor of our migrant heritage. Sited in a sunny aspect, surrounded by a diversity of non native fruit trees, on the western embankment of Thorndon Park reservoir, this orange tree harks from foreign shores but has thrived here in its Campbelltown locale. It shares the migrant experience of using the abundant natural resources, establishing roots to aid growth whilst also being productive and adding its own aesthetic flair. It epitomises to me, three of life’s gifts, namely food, family and friends. Owned by no one but shared by everyone in this fertile pocket in Paradise, this tree is lovingly cared for by volunteers who are the lifeblood spirit of Campbelltown."Open Category: "My husband and I encountered this beautiful tree on our first walk in our new neighbourhood. The sign beside it calls this the Tree of Life/Wodli Karra (Red River Gum Shelter). Even in death, this tree provides shelter to wildlife and a message of resilience and beauty to humans."
