The Sugar Gum plantation, intended to provide firewood for Greenvale Sanatorium, was sown in seven sections of 15 acres each, between 1939 and 1947. This was done by hand broadcasting the seed after ploughing and harrowing. While most sowing was of Sugar Gum, other species were also sown in one or two years – Mahogany Gum, Yellow Gum, Black Box, Grey Box, Yellow Box and Manna Gum. The latter three species already occurred on the surrounding land, although the seed was supplied by the Forestry Commission and presumably not collected locally. Only a few small Black Box trees and no Yellow Box can be found in the plantation. While there are Grey Box trees within the plantation, they may be original rather than planted.
While most of the plantation area appears to have been “logged out” before sowing, there are a number of dead Red Gums which would have been alive in 1940. Some Red Gums do survive within the plantation area. In the past, Park staff used to remove the Sugar Gums from around some of these to stop the Sugar Gums from killing them.
https://whp.altervista.org/sugar-gum-plantation.php
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