His Excellency Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives.
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Mr Shane Rattenbury and His Excellency Mohamed Nasheed.
Left: Mr George Tomlins, Ms Sherry McArdle-English Mr Shane Rattenbury and HisExcellency Mohamed Nasheed.
Central Valley, National Arboretum Canberra.
On Friday 4 June 2010, President of the Republic of Maldives, His Excellency Mohamed Nasheed joined The Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, Shane Rattenbury to plant a Wollemia nobilis, commonly known as a Wollemi Pine, at the National Arboretum Canberra.
The Wollemi Pine is the fifth tree to be planted at the top of the Arboretum’s Central Valley spine where a path will link the individual trees planted by dignitaries and leaders from around the world.
The Wollemi Pine is a critically endangered species and was found in a remote gorge in the Blue Mountains in 1994 by David Noble, a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service officer.
Since then, two additional populations have been found close to the original discovery however, in total, there are still less than 100 known to be growing in the wild.
A forest of Wollemi Pines has been planted at the Arboretum. At maturity, this impressive evergreen conifer will reach 40 metres in height and will have a trunk diameter of up to a metre.