REVEALED: Perth's worst areas for hayfever sufferers

Perth Now

24-05-2025

They beautify cities, provide physical, mental and environmental health benefits, and can even boost property values.
But for one-in-four hay-fever sufferers — including most of the 2.8 million Australians living with asthma — some of WA's most attractive trees are bringing nothing but allergy misery.
Edith Cowan University (ECU) researcher Dr Mary Hanson said the five worst offenders in the City of Perth for hayfever symptoms were plane trees, canary palms, liquidambars, Chinese elms and olive trees.
These trees have been avidly planted and are all moderate to highly allergenic ones.
The specific CBD streets that are most likely to have people reaching for their handkerchiefs and antihistamines are Terrace Road at Langley Park, and Aberdeen Street in Northbridge, given both feature many olive and plane trees.
'For some people it can be a bit of a detrimental experience going into these spaces, especially if they are exposed to high levels of pollen,' Ms Hanson said.
'If people are able to avoid those hotspots by making minor adjustments to their lifestyle, like taking a different route home, it could improve their quality of life.' This new map created by ECU researchers aims to help people visualise where the most allergenic trees are in Perth's CBD. Credit: Supplied
According to Dr John Blakey, a Perth respiratory physician and spokesperson for Asthma Australia, many hay fever sufferers are triggered by tree pollen leading to symptoms such as runny noses, itchy eyes and sore throats.
And a significant number who believe they only experience hay fever actually have asthma.
'Hay fever is more common — and not every hay fever case progresses to asthma, but it certainly can do,' he told The West Australian.
'Tree pollens can be a significant problem, especially because the majority of people in Australia have poor daily control of their asthma symptoms according to national surveys. Most just accept it.
'The problem is, you cannot avoid trees. They are everywhere and the answer is not to remove the trees. We want a world with trees given they provide so many benefits.
'There are other ways to deal with this. For example, most people suffer from hay fever when they are not taking their preventative treatment regularly.'
He said drastic lifestyle changes, such as avoiding working in the CBD to avoid allergenic trees, is unlikely to be especially helpful.
'In the CBD you are exposed to much more harmful particles in the air in the way of diesel particulates from passing cars, being around a lot of people with viruses, breathing in second-hand cigarette smoke and things like that which make your airway much more sensitive to allergens,' he explained.
'It's the combination effect — it's not just I breathed in some tree pollen.'
Most people are also triggered by multiple allergens, sometimes five or six, not just by tree pollen. ECU researcher Mary Hanson. Credit: Ross Swanborough / The West Australian
'That is not to dismiss the fact that you have a heavier concentration of the trees in some areas and some people will genuinely be worse in some areas, but often that is something that can be managed with other processes without going to extreme lengths like moving schools, or house or job where those trees are.'
Dr Blakey said councils could give more consideration to planting lower allergenic trees going forward.
'But it is always better to have the trees even if they do inflame people's allergies a little bit because the benefits of having them are so much greater,' he added.
Ms Hanson said ECU researchers recently developed a new tool enabling people to visualise where allergenic trees are positioned in four of Australia's major cities, including Perth.
The idea was to make it easier for people to identify tree allergy hot spots.
An online portal with maps will be launched soon, she added, complementing the Perth Pollen website and app, both popular resources for pollen and airborne allergen information, including the grass pollen forecast for Perth.