Lone PinePrint Page

The pine tree commemorates the ANZAC Centenary and those who served in World War One. Pines which are planted as a memorial to the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought in Gallipoli are also known as "Lone Pines" or "Gallipoli Pines", referencing the original tree.

Chairman of the board of Beolite Village, Sir Andrew Grimwade, said the Lone Pine is a Turkish Red Pine (Pinus Brutia) grown from seed derived from the famous Lone Pine at Gallipoli and acknowledged that other ‘lone pines’ planted throughout Australia are of a different species.

Sir Andrew stated that he believes there were three types of pines originally growing at Gallipoli – but Beolite’s tree has descended from the last one standing during battles.

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:	Kidston Parade , Beolite Village, Mansfield , 3722
State:	VIC
Area:	AUS
GPS Coordinates:	Lat: -37.052088 Long: 146.071354 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.

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Details

Monument Type:	Tree
Monument Theme:	Conflict
Sub-Theme:	WW1

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:	April-2015

Source: MA