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Lone Pine - Gallipoli MemorialPrint Page 
The Pine tree commemorates the 91st anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine. The tree which is a direct botanical descendant of the Gallipoli Lone Pine forms the centrepiece of the Gallipoli Memorial.
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).
The Shrine of Remembrance's 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.
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
Location
| Address: | North Head, Australia`s Memorial Walk, Manly, 2095 |
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| State: | NSW |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -33.818889 Long: 151.299722 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Tree |
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| Monument Theme: | Conflict |
| Sub-Theme: | WW1 |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 06-August-1915 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 06-August-2006 |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Sunday 6th August, 2006 |
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The Lone Pine - Gallipoli
The Lone Pine ridge was the scene of a major diversionary attack launched by the 1st Australian Division on the 5th August 1915. The Turks had cut down all but one of the trees that covered the feature for use in constructing their trenches. The ridge with the remaining and predominate single Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis) became known as Lone Pine. In four days of savage hand-to-hand fighting the Australians lost almost 2,300 men while the Turkish losses were estimated at 5,000. Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded in the action.
This tree was raised from seedlings grown from a pine cone sent home from Gallipoli by Lance Corporal Benjamin Smith of the 3rd Battalion, AIF. It was planted on the 6th August 2006 to commemorate the 91st anniversary of the Battle for Lone Pine and is a constant reminder of the sacrifice made by fellow Australians in World War 1.
Gallipoli
