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Lone PinePrint Page Print this page

18-May-2014
18-May-2014

Photographs supplied by Sandra Brown

The pine tree commemorates those who served in World War One and marks the respect between the Turkish and Australian people which had its origins in the Gallipoli Campaign. 

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:Millams Road, Kooragang Wetlands (Ash Island), Kooragang, 2304
State:NSW
Area:Australia
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -32.844607
Long: 151.697443
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

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Wednesday 11th November, 1998
Front Inscription

THE LONE PINE OF GALLIPOLI
Aleppo Pine      Pinus Haleponses (sic)

      Planted by 
His Excellency Mr. Umut Arik   
The Ambassador for Turkey   
11th November, 1998

This tree was propagated from seed originating from pine tree branches used in the trenches during the Gallipoli campaign, on the ridge known as "The Lone Pine Ridge" at Gallipoli.  The seed was sent back to his mother by the brother of a digger killed during the campaign.  She then raised the tree and presented it to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

The planting of this tree marks the respect that exists between the Turkish people and Australian people with its origin on the Gallipoli Campaign.

"Lest We Forget"

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