One of the finest pines growing in NSW State forests has been selected to take pride of place in the foyer of Government House as a decorated Christmas tree.

It’s a Christmas tradition that for decades has brought festive season cheer to visitors to Sydney’s heritage-listed ‘Castle by the Sea.’

Sourced from Penrose State Forest, the radiata pine has been beautifully decorated in time for the regal Christmas reception of Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales.

The five-metre-high pine was transported from the Southern Highlands to Sydney after a rigorous selection process by Forestry Corporation to find a perfectly shaped Christmas tree.

Forestry Corporation has also supplied a 3.5-metre pine to feature as the Christmas showcase at nearby Vaucluse House.

“It’s always a great pleasure for staff to find the perfect Christmas trees for Government House and Vaucluse House,” Forestry Corporation's Moss Vale Area Supervisor Tom Bagnell said.

“These pines will bring Christmas cheer to many, but they also represent the contribution that our pine estates and the NSW timber industry make to building new homes across Australia.”

Each year pine plantations in NSW State forests generate enough timber to build 40,000 new homes – that’s the equivalent of the homes in Orange, Bathurst and Oberon.

"Radiata pine harvested from our State Forest plantations is used in construction and landscaping and the everyday pulp and paper products that the state relies upon,” Mr Bagnell said.

Every tree that is sustainably harvested in State forests is replanted.

Over the past five years, Forestry Corporation has raised 50-million seedlings in nurseries that have been hand planted NSW State Forests to ensure long-term timber supplies for future generations.

Radiata pine (Pinus radiata) has been grown in the local Moss Vale area for over a century.

The plantation from where these pines were selected was replanted in 2018 and those compartments will reach maturity as structural timber at an age class of 25 to 30 years.

Penrose State Forest was one of the earliest pine plantations established in NSW in 1920.

Forestry Corporation has grown pine on the site ever since with extensions to the plantation area in the 1960s and 1970s.