Dairy Farmers Hill Track

Easy

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A 2.3km return climb at the National Arboretum Canberra to a hilltop sculpture lookout, which the Arboretum's own trail guide describes as giving one of Canberra's most photographed and iconic views.

☰ Trail details

Hide panel — map only✕

Distance

2.22 km

Est. time

36 min

Elevation gain

36 m

Route type

Out & back

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in National Arboretum Canberra, Molonglo Valley, Canberra, ACT. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Necklace FernDocumented on this trail

Asplenium flabellifolium

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species

Necklace fern is a common name for several plants and may refer to:Asplenium flabellifolium, native to Australia and New Zealand Lindsaea

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near National Arboretum Canberra (Atlas of Living Australia, date unrecorded) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Aspleniaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Necklace Fern

BulokeDocumented on this trail

Allocasuarina luehmannii

Critically Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, VIC: Critically Endangered▾

Critically Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, VIC: Critically Endangered

Allocasuarina luehmannii, commonly known as buloke or bull-oak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a dioecious tree, that has its leaves reduced to scales in whorls of ten to fourteen, and the mature fruiting cones are 5–12 mm (0.2–0.5 in) long containing winged seeds (samaras) 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long.

How to spot it

Allocasuarina luehmannii is a dioecious tree that typically grows to a height of 5–15 m (16–49 ft) and has furrowed bark. Its branchlets are more or less erect, up to 400 mm (16 in) long, the leaves reduced to scale-like teeth 0.5–1 mm (0.02–0.04 in) long, arranged in whorls of ten to fourteen around the branchlets. The sections of branchlet between the leaf whorls (the "articles") are 8–22 mm (0.3–0.9 in) long, 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) wide and often waxy. Male flowers are arranged in spikes 50–10

Family Casuarinaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Allocasuarina luehmannii

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC-BY-NC 4.0 (Int)), collected by daviddedenczuk

Tiny GreenhoodDocumented on this trail

Pterostylis parviflora

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Endangered▾

Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, SA: Endangered

Pterostylis parviflora, commonly known as the tiny greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. As with similar orchids, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves but the flowering plants lack a rosette at the base but have up to eight tiny green, white and brown flowers.

How to spot it

Pterostylis parviflora is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and when not flowering, a rosette of three to eight egg-shaped to heart-shaped leaves which lie flat on the ground. Each leaf is 3–15 mm long and 3–7 mm wide. Flowering plants have up to eight well-spaced flowers 7–10 mm long and 3–4 mm wide borne on a thin, wiry spike 80–250 mm high. Up to three leaf rosettes are arranged on the side of the flowering spike. The flowers are green and white, sometimes br

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Pterostylis parviflora

Ferny AzollaDocumented on this trail

Azolla pinnata

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species▾

Restricted Trade Species — ACT: Restricted Trade Species

Azolla pinnata is a species of fern known by several common names, including mosquitofern, feathered mosquitofern and water velvet. It is native to much of Africa, Asia and parts of Australia. It is an aquatic plant, it is found floating upon the surface of the water. It grows in quiet and slow-moving water bodies because swift currents and waves break up the plant. At maximum growth rate, it can double its biomass in 1.9 days, with most strains attaining such growth within a week under optimal conditions.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near National Arboretum Canberra (Atlas of Living Australia, 2016) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Salviniaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Azolla pinnata

Photo via NatureMapr (CC-BY 3.0 (Au)), collected by michaelb