The suburb consists of three non-contiguous areas of island, including the land around Parsons Point to the west of the South Trees Inlet and two islands within the South Trees Inlet, the northern one called South Trees Island while the southern one is unnamed.

In the Parsons Point area is the Queensland Alumina Limited refinery with a footprint of 80 hectares (200 acres) of a 3,050-hectare (7,500-acre) site.

There is a causeway bridge from Parsons Point to South Trees Island where the refinery's wharf and storage facility is located.

The suburb takes its name from South Trees Point,[2] which in turn was named about 6 August 182 by explorer Matthew Flinders on HMS Investigator on the first circumnavigation of Australia.

[4] In the 2016 census, South Trees had "no people or a very low population".