Lone PinePrint Page
The Pine tree commemorates those who died in service or were killed in action in World War One. It also commemorates the commencement of the Avenue of Honour project.
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).
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.
The Shrine of Remembrance's lone 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.
Melbourne Legacy and the Yarralumla Nursery in Canberra have grown seedlings sourced from the trees at the Shrine of Remembrance and the Australian War Memorial respectively, which they have presented to schools as well as ex-service and other organisations throughout Australia.
Location
Address: | Brougham Place & Seventh Avenue, Alberton Oval, Alberton, 5014 |
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State: | SA |
Area: | AUS |
GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -34.863111 Long: 138.520007 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
Monument Type: | Tree |
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Monument Theme: | Conflict |
Sub-Theme: | WW1 |
Actual Event Start Date: | 04-August-1914 |
Actual Event End Date: | 28-June-1919 |
Dedication
Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Wednesday 11th November, 2015 |
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This tree, a descendant of the original Lone Pine at Gallipoli was planted on November 11, 2015 in memory of the men and women of the local District who paid the supreme sacrifice in World War 1 and to commemorate the commencement of the Avenues of Honour project supported by Treenet, Port Adelaide Football Club, Port Adelaide Semaphore RSL and the City of Port Adelaide Enfield.