'The Royal Oak was planted by Mr. John Hyde Harris, the Superintendent of the Province of Otago on the 30th of June 1863 on the site of the original Botanic Garden. This site is now occupied by the University of Otago on the banks of the Water of the Leith bounded by Union, Albany and Leith Streets. This tree planting was to commemorate the marriage of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII and Princess Alexandra. It was also the date of the establishment of the first Botanic Garden in New Zealand. Mr. Alexander Begg, a Scotsman, was the first curator. In 1868 a flood in the Water of the Leith rendered the site useless for the purpose of a public garden and the Royal Oak was moved to it's present site under the direction of Mr.A. Gruer the Provincial Gardener' (Struthers 1982).
Steel cabling has been removed and replaced by cobra. Unfortunately it has shed two large limbs since. After these events the tree had end-weight reduced from other heavy limbs in the hope to prevent further failures (Kluiters May 2010).