Lone PinePrint Page

The Pine tree commemorates the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) who fought in World War One.  Interpretive signage was added to commemorate the Centenary of ANZAC in 2015. 
 

WARRNAMBOOL, Sunday.— The Back to Warrnambool celebrations were concluded this afternoon with the dedication at the botanic gardens of a pine grown from the seed of the famous Lone Pine at Gallipoli. A procession, headed by the city band, marched to the gardens, where there was a large attendance. Addresses were given by Rev. E. S. Yeo (late 23rd Battalion, A.I.F.), the mayor (Cr. E. A. Oakley) and the shire president (Cr. J. Rollo). Amongst the many souvenirs which Sergeant Keith McDowell, of the 23rd Battalion, obtained from Gallipoli was a cone from the original Lone Pine. After twelve years Mrs. R. Gray, of Grassmere, obtained permission to try and raise seedlings from the seeds in the cone, and succeeded in raising four. One seedling was planted at Wattle Park, Melbourne, on 7th May, 1933; a second was given to the 24th Battalion, and planted at the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne, on 11th June, 1933, and the third was planted at the Sisters' Memorial Hall on 18th June, 1933. The fourth one, which was dedicated today, was given by Mrs. Gray on 23rd April, 1929, to Mr. M. L. Carter, secretary of the Warrnambool Progress Association. It has been successfully transplanted, and is making steady growth. 
Age (Melbourne), 22 January 1934.

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.

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