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Lone PinePrint Page 
The Pine tree commemorates 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.
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: | Painted Hill & Armidale Roads, Doreen RSL Cenotaph, Laurimar Primary School , Doreen, 3754 |
|---|---|
| State: | VIC |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.585854 Long: 145.128161 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
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
The Lone Pine
"My life began on this rugged peninsula, overlooking sandy cliffs. I shared stories with my fellow trees and the visiting birds. Our tales were carried in the wind. I grew tall and strong, surviving storms and fires. But everything changed when the fighting began.
I was there. Not to fight, heal or cook, but a mere pine tree. I was the Lone Pine.
I was there when they came, with their guns, wearing a uniform I had not seen before. When the men landed on a rocky cliff-front instead of a beach, the Turksih troops were ready and they literally rained, bombshells and bullets down.
I thought the battles would never stop. The fighting and the noise were horrendous. At night the silence was fearful, gave the men more time to think, expecting the worst for the next day.
At times, they stopped to lay to rest the fallen soldiers. One day as the fighting paused, I felt a man leaning against me sadly, as he wrote a letter.
A tear slid down the mans`s cheek. He crumpled and looked into the distance. He sat watching the waves for so long, I could tell he would not sleep at all that night.
The fighting raged on, and the landscape was becoming bare and wounded, like the men who brought that fate upon it. Soon I was the last tree, the only one who did not get used as wood to shelter the Turks. As the summer sun burned on, the next battle would be the last one I would live to see. My branches slowly withered, but my spirit lived on.
Two men gathed my pine cones, which I willingly gave, so that they could grow in the memory of all that happened here."
Sarah Moad, aged 11, Baird House Captain, Laurimar Primary School
Sarah was the winner of "The Heroics of the Gallipoli Landing" sponsorship competition held in 2015 by the National Servicemen`s Association of Australia, Northern Districts Sub-Branch (Melbourne)
