THE HUON VALLEY GROVE OF GIANTS
HOME OF LATHAMUS KEEP
A GLOBALLY SIGNIFICANT
FOREST
WORTH
PROTECTING
PLAN YOUR VISIT
DRIVING GUIDE
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is free to visit but does require detailed preparation and planning.
No road signs indicate the directions to the grove. Numerous drivers have become lost in the complex network of remote roads.
Each driver needs to have a detailed plan and an offline map to guide them. There is no mobile phone reception and Google Maps directions could fail well before you arrive.
It is easy to damage your car by bottoming out or hitting potholes with too much speed. Drivers of small cars note that there are deep ruts in the road over the last 1km. Be sure to drive on the elevated central rise of the road and not down in the ruts. Drive slowly!
WALKING TRACKS
Essentially there is one main walking track with an optional short track and a side track to Lathamus Keep. We recommend you download the image below and keep it on your phone as a reference while walking.
UPDATE OCTOBER 2023 - Walking tracks have been updated to improve navigability and reduce environmental impacts. Tracks have been moved away from the base of trees to limit the impact on the critical root zone. A phytophthora wash station has been installed to help prevent the spread of microscopic pathogens that can kill trees.
LATHAMUS KEEP
OUR BIGGEST TREE PORTRAIT EVER
THE ORIGIN
After learning that yet another pristine old growth forest was going to be logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania, Tasmanian big tree hunters Jan Corigliano and Carl Hansen decided to take a look.
It was a cold and wet Saturday in August. Soaked to the bone and with raindrops covering the lens of their laser rangefinder they were prevented from getting any accurate readings. Their initial enthusiasm for the tree was dampened but the news quickly spread.
Months later in November a second visit by big tree climbers Shaun Green and Jack O’Hare set about to climb and measure the trees volume. From their maximum highpoint for the day of 65m they began to measure the stem at regular intervals all the way to ground level.
Later that evening far past any reasonable hour the phone rang, Jack had finalised and just triple checked the results. His calculations revealed the world had a new champion blue gum at 325 cubic metres in volume.
Sadly the previous champion Strong Girl had been killed in the 2019 bushfires along with another 15 of Australia’s top 25 trees. Finding Lathamus Keep reestablished the entire species as worthy contenders for giant tree protection.
#1 The Huon Valley is home to the Grove of Giants, a 100 hectare area containing some of the most notable giant trees in the world.
#2 The Grove of Giants is home to Lathamus Keep, the world’s largest Tasmanian Blue Gum, which was only discovered in 2021.
As the name suggests, the Grove of Giants is home to many remarkable trees. There are 150 trees over four metres in diameter or 12 metres in girth. You’d need at least eight people to encircle a tree that size. This forest is also the only place in the world where you have four different species of Eucalyptus all reaching gigantic proportions in such a small area.
The Grove of Giants is the last remaining intact stand of old-growth Tasmanian Blue Gums left. It is an important habitat for the critically endangered Swift Parrot, which relies on Blue Gum trees as a food source during their breeding season. The Grove of Giants has been described as the best remaining Swift Parrot habitat by researchers.
There has been countless hours of volunteer work to document the outstanding natural values of this beautiful forest. The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is globally unique. Thanks to our successful campaigning, the Grove of Giants is now in an informal reserve. We would now like to see the Grove have permanent protection and better visitor infrastructure.
PRIDE OF THE SOUTHERN FORESTS
Tasmania’s Premiere Giant Tree Destination
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is a 100 hectare area containing some of the most notable giant trees in the world. This area includes both the world’s tallest and largest blue gums: Mother Daughter at 92m and Lathamus Keep at 325 cubic metres in volume.
Other viewable giant trees include the West Tower 91m, North Wall 86m as well as five other trees over 80m. Yet much of this natural wonder was scheduled to be logged in 2023. It took us two and a half years of campaigning and countless hours in the field, researching, surveying, climbing and measuring to get this area removed from the logging plans.
Did you know?
There are currently no giant trees south of Hobart that are free, signposted and tourist accessible. This is a major loss to the community, local businesses, and the Tasmanian tourism industry as a whole. The southern forests is home to a great number of the world’s biggest trees. This includes Centurion, the world’s tallest flowering plant at 100.5 metres.
Lathamus Keep, the world’s biggest blue gum at 325 cubic metres in volume is also located in the southern forests in a logging area called DN007b, or as we prefer the Huon Valley Grove of Giants.
Part of a big day out
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is located along the same road as two other popular hiking trails. The Lake Skinner track and the Nevada Peak Track. Both of these walks are stunning examples of Tasmania’s alpine environments.
Yet visitors to these trails drive within metres of the Huon Valley’s best ultra tall and ultra large wet eucalypt forest.
To visit the tallest blue gum in the world named Mother Daughter (92m) it is less than 1km drive off the main road and less than 200m walk from the carpark.
“Huon Valley Grove of Giants is the best giant tree location in the southern forests. The potential for this 100 hectare area to become a major drawcard for the Huon Valley is undeniable. If made into a formal visitor site, the long term benefits to the community, local economy and environment are obvious ”. - Steve Pearce
BIG TREE SURVEY AUGUST 2022
Following on from the realisation that the champion blue gum was found in a Sustainable Timber Tasmania logging area and due to be logging in 2023, a group of 14 volunteers came together to do a complete survey of the area for giant trees.
We set out to measure every tree bigger than 2.5m in diameter. What we found is that there are 300+ trees this size or greater. We chose 2.5m DBH because these trees would qualify for giant tree protection in Victoria, yet in Tasmania, trees this size remain unprotected.
Of this 300+ trees there are more than 150 trees greater than 4m in diameter and capping off these astronomical figures is just a few more statistics:
The area contains 76 trees over 5m in diameter. Of these new giants there are four species of eucalypt Eucalyptus regnans, E. delegatensis, E. obliqua & E. globulus.
Nowhere else in Australia can you find four different species of trees all reaching gigantic proportions in such a small area.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania had plans to log this place in 2023. it took more than two and a half years of volunteer work to get this area removed from the logging plans. As of early 2024, after years of campaigning, changes were made to the giant tree policy to protect any tree over four metres in diameter. This means the Grove is now in an informal reserve.
We are now advocating for formal and permanent protection for the Grove of Giants, along with proper visitor infrastructure to make the site more accessible.
TASMANIAN BIG TREE HUNTERS 2:
The Age of Discovery
Over this journey of discovery in logging area DN007b or as we call it the Huon Valley Grove of Giants we’ve been filming a documentary. The people who have come together in the Tasmanian Big Tree community and brought their personalities and individuality take us on their pathways of discovery. From desktop LiDAR session to climbing to the very tip of Lathamus Keep each person’s contribution played a vital part in the process of discovering this champion tree.
Critical Swift Parrot Habitat
The Huon Valley Grove of Giants is the last remaining stand of ultra tall and ultra large old-growth Tasmanian blue gums left on the planet. All other stands of blue gums of this class have either been logged or heavily impacted by fire.
In the 2020/2021 breeding season DN007b, the Huon Valley Grove of Giants, was heavily populated with breeding swift parrots. Citizen Scientists documented these sightings and shared the results. But logging areas that are documented swift parrot feeding or nesting habitat still remain on the logging schedule.
The critically endangered Swift Parrot relies on blue gums as its primary food source during their breeding season. The Grove of Giants has been described as the best remaining Swift Parrot habitat by researchers primarily due to the large number of mature blue gums.
All government and forestry industry attempts the throw money at this problem while still logging critical habitats have failed. It is time to protect all swift parrot habitat.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania logging area DN009g featured many tall and large blue gums and it was adjacent to the Grove of Giants (DN007b). It was identified as core swift parrot habitat by swift parrot researchers and subsequently logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania in April 2021.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania logging area DN007c was adjacent to the Grove of Giants. It featured many tall and large giant trees including the tree pictured above. This log remains in place as it was too big for the loggers to take away. We’ve named this tree Paddy’s Regret, it would have been greater than 280 cubic meters and qualified for protection.
DN007b was identified as core swift parrot habitat by swift parrot researchers and subsequently logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania in November 2019.