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Norfolk Island Pine trees planted in two rows, one row on each side of the footpath, along Pittwater Road near Collaroy Street, commemorate those who died in service or were killed in action during World War One.

The trees were originally planted in 1917 in memory of 5 members of the Collaroy Surf Life Saving Club who lost their lives in World War One. 

Five members of the Collaroy Surf Club have fallen in action, and it has been decided to perpetuate their memory by planting five Norfolk Island pines on the main road fronting the beach. On Saturday afternoon Dr. Arthur, M.L.A., performed the ceremony of dedicating the trees, which had already been planted. The president of the Collaroy Beach Progress Association (Mr. Arthur G. Parr) said that the five men who had fallen, out of the 35 members who had gone to the front had made the supreme sacrifice in the cause of freedom, right, and Empire. Dr. Arthur said it behoved them to do everything in their power to keep green the memory of those men who had made the great sacrifice and had given up everything in order that the world might continue to progress along lines of liberty and justice, and that any attempt to bring a reign of tyranny upon the earth might be avoided. There were many in Australia today who had not grasped the extent of the sacrifice the men at the front were making. They had foregone life and all the good and pleasant things the future had in store, yet today there were hundreds and hundreds of people hurrying to the racecourse.

"There are too many who indulge in what we call an orgy of festival and enjoyment." he proceeded. "We call for volunteers to help to build homes for the widows and families of those who have fallen, yet we do not get one in a hundred. Those who will not go to the front should gladly embrace the opportunity of doing something for those who have done something for them." Cr. Quirk (Warringah) as president of the Collaroy Surf Club, accepted the dedication of the trees, and Crs. Thew and Corkery and Mr. Donald M'Intyre (secretary of the Surfbathing Association) also spoke. Mr. M'Intyre said that 3300 members of life-saving clubs were at the front and out of 219 who had gone from the Freshwater Club 42 had fallen,
Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 1 October 1917.

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Dedication