The Oldest Bonsai in Australia 1880

I didn't realise that this Box leafed Privet bonsai was the oldest bonsai in Australia.  It was a collected yamadori from Lisarow on the Central Coast of NSW.  Ian Hearn collected and developed this bonsai over many years before it was donated to the National Bonsai Collection in Canberra.

The following is an abstract from the book "A History of Canberra Bonsai Society" detailing some history of the tree.

"In 1982, Ian Hearn and others dug trees from a hedge on an old dairy farm, established in the 1880s, on the Central Coast of NSW. To determine the age of the collected trees, another member of the dig group sent a sample to Sydney and subsequently received a report indicating that the trees were approximately 100 years old. Ian developed his tree for approximately two years, initially using wire, followed by a clip and grow process, then further directional pruning before transferring the tree to a bonsai pot in 1984. An early photo, showing the tree’s basic structure, appeared in the Autumn 1982 edition of Bonsai Down Under."...........  "After featuring favorably in a design discussion by Ryan Neil at the 2013 AABC National Convention" ref. A History of Canberra Bonsai Society p.99

....... at this point the bonsai was donated to the National Collection.