One of Canberra's most ancient trees was moved from Gungahlin to the soon-to-be-declared Molonglo River Reserve on Tuesday after it was deemed unsafe to remain near houses.
The 17-metre-tall yellow box gum was believed to have been a seedling around the time the Taj Mahal was built, before it grew to tower over a narrow Nicholls street 400 years later.
ACT Planning Minister Mick Gentleman said the decision to move the tree, which is five metres in circumference and weighs about 12 tonnes, was made after a large branch fell into a yard during the recent storms.
He said it would be placed at one entrance to the Molonglo River Reserve to continue to provide habitat for local wildlife and was part of a larger restoration project in the area.
"Old trees, whether standing or on the ground, provide many habitat features that animals and insects rely on, such as hollows and peeling bark, so this yellow box will form an important part of the landscape at its new resting place," he said.
"The area's rocky grasslands and woodlands are home to threatened species like the pink-tailed worm-lizard, woodland birds and superb parrot and it is hoped that restoration efforts like this one will provide benefits to these and other species."
A crane truck and semi-trailer was used for the delicate relocation, which did not result in the tree being replanted but rather laid down at the reserve.
Darren Le Roux from the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate said the ACT government was partnering with the ANU on a separate project which involved replanting five trees, also deemed unsafe, to a 50-hectare restoration area at the Molonglo River Reserve.
"Those will be restored and put upright," he said.
"This tree has a different function and different spot and we had all the trees that we needed for that [the replanting] already."
But preserving the size of the tree was still complex, lead arborist with Climb High Tree Services, Gey Draney, explained.
"We have to put the crane in the front and the semi-trailer will pull the main trunk of the timber, then hook the crane up and we will scarf out the side, back cut it and lay it down," he said.
"We won't pick it up in one hit because it is too heavy and is a bit more of a risk of falling back onto the residents, then we can assess the weight and put it on the truck."
Mr Draney said the heritage listed tree was one of the oldest in Canberra and there were very few that ancient in residential areas.
He said he wanted to see more of these restoration efforts being undertaken in Canberra, as most usually end up as fire wood or pulp.