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Aleppo Pine
Aleppo Pine

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson

The Aleppo pine tree (Pinus halepensis) commemorates those who served in World War One.

The Aleppo Pine is one of two species of pine at Gallipoli, the other being the Lone Pine (Pinus brutia). 

The Lone Pine was the name given to a solitary tree on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, which marked the site of the Battle of Lone Pine in 1915 during World War One and it was the sole survivor of a group of trees that had been cut down by Turkish soldiers who had used the timber and branches to cover their trenches.

The tree was obliterated during the battle; however, pine cones that had remained attached to the cut branches over the trenches were retrieved by two Australian soldiers and brought home to Australia. Private Thomas Keith McDowell, a soldier of the 23rd Battalion brought a pine cone from the battle site back to Australia, and many years later seeds from the cone were planted by his wife's aunt Emma Gray of Grassmere, near Warrnambool, Victoria and five seedlings emerged, with four surviving. These seedlings were planted in four different locations in Victoria: Wattle Park (May 8, 1933), the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne (June 11, 1933), the Soldiers Memorial Hall at The Sisters near Terang (June 18, 1933) and Warrnambool Botanic Gardens (January 23, 1934).

The Shrine of Remembrance's Pine was felled in August 2012 and the timber used as part of a remembrance project, after a disease known as Diplodia pinea or blue stains fungus as it commonly called killed it.

Another soldier, Lance Corporal Benjamin Smith from the 3rd Battalion, also retrieved a cone and sent it back to his mother (Mrs McMullen) in Australia, who had lost another son at the battle. Seeds from the cone were planted by Mrs McMullen in 1928, from which two seedlings were raised. One was presented to her home town of Inverell (New South Wales) and the other was forwarded to Canberra where it was planted by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester at the Australian War Memorial in October 1934.

Note: The Alice Springs RSL Club closed its doors indefinitely in 2017. 

Location

Address:Schwarz Crescent, RSL Club, Alice Springs, 0870
State:NT
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -23.69236
Long: 133.883494
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Tree
Monument Theme:Conflict
Sub-Theme:WW1
Actual Event Start Date:04-August-1914
Actual Event End Date:28-June-1919

Dedication

Front Inscription

ALEPPO PINE
(Pinus Brutia)

From The
ORIGINAL LONE
PINE ON GALLIPOLI

Grown In The Jubilee Year 1965
Planted In Memory Of
Departed Comrades

"Lest We Forget"

   

 

Source: SKP, MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au