What is reputedly New Zealand’s most photographed tree began as a branch of a crack willow tree on the shores of Lake Wānaka. That branch became part of a livestock fence along the shore, adjacent to Lake Wānaka Station, no later than 1939. The tree subsequently slowly grew in the shallows of the lake [1].

The tree gained wider fame after a photograph of the tree was the winner in the landscape category of the 2014 New Zealand Geographic photographic awards [2] and became known as #thatwanakatree on social media. With the fame came damage from trampling and vandalism, including an incident in 2020 where a low branch was removed with a chainsaw [3].

As a result of the posted requests to stay away from the tree, it was not directly measured for girth and spread – rather these were taken from scaled perpendicular images using the lasered height from the shoreline as a reference.

References
1. New Zealand's Famous "That Wanaka Tree", accessed January 2023
2. Dennis Radermacher Photograph, 2014
3. The Guardian, "Wanaka's famous Instagram tree attacked with a saw", 18 March 2020