By Beatrice Hawkins
Planting trees as memorials for soldiers appears to be an Australian tradition. I realise there are other countries that do this, however it would appear that Australia probably has more of these than most.
When I was out in Roma earlier in the year I once again admired the beautiful bottle trees lining Heroes Avenue and this caused me to look into memorial trees.
These 93 trees were planted to honour the men from Roma who died in the First World War. The first tree was planted on 20th September 1918 outside the Post Office and is known locally as the Tree of Knowledge. The remaining trees were planted by 1920 and all had a brass plaque attached bearing the soldiers name. The Avenue now consists of 138 trees. Only 1 of the plaques remain today and is on a cairn outside the Post Office along with a plaque with all the names inscribed. The avenue leads to the Cenotaph that was dedicated in 1938 and today also has the names of the 39 local World War11 fatalities. Behind the cenotaph stand 9 pine trees said to have been raised from seed from the original Lone Pine of Gallipoli. Roma is to be congratulated on this lovely avenue.
The first tree planted as a public memorial to the fallen was at the Rock near Lockhardt in NSW in 1911 and was dedicated to the soldiers that didn’t return from the Boer War in Africa.
Eumundi followed in 1914 with a similar memorial and continued after 1917 with more trees and is the oldest memorial in Queensland. Many of these trees are focal points for local gatherings, notably the renowned Eumundi markets.
Another Avenue to be recognised that is now heritage listed is in Beerburrum. It was planted in 1920 in the then Beerburrum Soldier Settlement and the road renamed Anzac Avenue. This was the first land, 53,00 acres, chosen as soldier settlement in Queensland.
Mrs Tilly Thompson in Ballarat commenced a fund raiser to plant a memorial avenue and between 1917 and 1918, 3,801 trees were planted, 1 for each person who went to war from the area. The 450 mostly women workers at the Lucas and Co clothing factory made dolls from the cloth scraps and sold them to raise funds. This avenue, at 22klms, remains the longest in the world.
In a report in 2006 there were 567 avenues or trees listed Australia wide with the greatest number being in Victoria and 57 in Queensland.
Since that report there has been a renewed interest in plantings along the Remembrance Driveway that follows the highway from Sydney to Canberra and has many rest stops along the way dedicated to the recipients of the Victoria Cross. At each of these there is a citation recording the deeds of these valiant men.
The Remembrance Driveway was an initiative of the founding president of the Garden Clubs of Australia, Mrs. Margaret Davis, who suggested it as the clubs first project. The first trees were planted in 1954 by the Queen and Prince Philip who each planted a plane tree in Macquarie Place in Sydney and the Queen planted a snow gum at the War Memorial in Canberra. These trees marked the start and finish of what has become a wonderful living memorial as there are now many parks and plantings along the route. The latest is a planting of 45,000 native trees and shrubs known as the Australian Defence Force Memorial Plantation along 15.5 kilometres of the highway. This is marked with a stone memorial wall at each end.
Other notable plantings are in Kings Park in Perth, WA. The first Honour Avenue there was dedicated on the 5th anniversary of the commencement of World War 1 with a planting of 404 trees. These trees were planted in unison after a single gunshot rang out on the 3rd August 1919. They were oak and plane trees with the oaks having been raised from acorns supplied by Queen Mary in 1914 from trees in the grounds of Windsor Castle. It is recorded that “despite wet and windy conditions almost 2,000 people including government ministers attended this State and public dedication”.
When these trees failed to prosper they were replaced with eucalyptus trees in the 1940’s. Today there is only 1 of the original oaks remaining. However there are now 3 Honour Avenues within the park dedicated to 1,800 Western Australians who died in the 2 World Wars and other conflicts. Each tree bears a commemorative plaque at its base.
Many towns have unrecognised memorial trees and avenues. I have only just now, after having lived in the Tamworth area for a long time, found that there is an extensive avenue located there.
*This is an old article that has been digitised so our readers have access to our full catalogue.
