History
Stromlo Forest and the area now known as Glenloch Cork Oak Plantation was used for cattle grazing in the early 1800's. It became Government land in 1931 and is now listed on both the ACT Heritage register and the National Estate register.

Part of Walter Burley Griffin's concept was to make Canberra self sufficient commercially. The first acorns came from a tree at Duntroon. Larger consignments came from Spain, which was lost during a WWI torpedo strike, and then from France. By 1920 in excess of 9500 cork oaks had been planted.

Cork Oak (Quercus suber)
Cork oaks can grow to 20 metres high and reach a diameter of 1 metre. They are drought tolerant and can live up to 400 years.

Cork comes from the outer bark of the tree. The poorer the soil, the slower the growth, the better the cork quality. Properly harvested cork can be removed without damaging the tree and new layers regrow every year. Trees my be stipped every 9-10 years.

Cork harvesting in Stromlo Forest first commenced in the late 1940's and manufactoring took place in Melbourne by GP Embleton & Co. In 2001 professional cork strippers from Portugal were employed to remove the cork, primarily 'virgin cork', used for plant nursery applications.

The photos depicted on the left show the lastest cork harvest which took place in November 2005.

CORK CENTRAL
Tinonee Orchids, along with Easy Orchids, have purchased from ACT Forests, the entire 2005 harvest of virgin cork bark from the Glenloch Plantation. This bark comes in the form of flat to slightly curved sheets which range in size from 150mm - 800mm long. Some huge slabs are also available for those wishing to create large specimens.

Virgin Cork Bark is an ideal mount for epiphytic orchids and other plants such as tillandsias. It also has many other craft and building applications.

Tinonee Orchids have good stocks of cork available.
Please contact us to arrange freight.

$16.50/kg per piece incl GST
$9.90/kg per bale (approx 18-20kg) incl GST.
Bale dimensions approx. 800mm long x 500mm wide x 350mm deep.
500kg or more Price on Application