This arboretum was gazetted 1 August 2001, the centenary year of Australian Federation, as a place of:
"... recreation, scientific research and public education and of the great importance of trees and forests to Australia in the centuries ahead”,
to commemorate Lindsay Pryor’s contribution to the city.
The site was originally part of Walter Burley Griffin’s proposal for a large continental arboretum, which did not proceed.
Between about 1952 and 1957 Pryor planted the area with mixed indigenous, deciduous and coniferous trees of fifty different species. The impetus for the planting was provided by the then Governor General, Sir William Slim, who was keen to improve the view from Government House which lies just across the lake to the south.
Many of the introduced hardwood species are suffering from lack of water.