The tree is recorded as being planted on October 12, 1949 by Huia Gilpin, Deputy Director of Parks for Christchurch City Council, although one observer present at the ceremony recalls that it was planted by the then Director of Parks, Morris Barnetton (Pers.comm: Neiel Drain, by email May 26, 2010).
In the book 'A Garden Century, traversing the history of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens 1863-1963', under Notable Trees, is the following:
'The Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides): Growing in the lawn near the Townend House, the specimen (now 35 feet high with a trunk 7 inches in diameter) was one of the first of these interesting trees to be planted in New Zealand. It was planted in 1949 from a six-inch pot.'
Records document that the tree was supplied by the curator of the Timaru Botanic Garden, A.W. Anderson (CH 355, Box 4, File: Trees, Christchurch City Council Archives). Anderson is credited with being the first to receive and propagate the seed of Metasequoia in New Zealand. He obtained seed from Dr. E.D. Merrill, director of the Arnold Arboretum, and made his first sowing of seed on the 27th of July 1948. By April 1949 his plants were reported to have been 24 inches high. (Cadwallader, B.G., 2013).