"We cover them with mesh about October/November and then harvest the cones January to March." "So we have to protect them so they can sit on the tree until they are ready to open. They get into them and pull them to pieces and get the seeds out," Mr Hayward said. Growing the pines is not too difficult, but protecting the unripe cones from hungry cockatoos is challenging. In 1990 two pines were taken to Gallipoli by a group of World War I veterans to mark 75 years since the landing at Anzac Cove. The offspring are used for ceremonial plantings by Returned Services League (RSL) branches and schools across the country. "As the Anzac history became more significant, the demand for the Lone Pine seedlings became greater," Yarralumla Nursery's Farley Hayward said.Įighty years on, the Lone Pine still stands tall at the Australian War Memorial. The government-owned Yarralumla Nursery began propagating from seed and grafts in the 1940s. Thousands of trees have been cultivated from the Australian War Memorial's Lone Pine and planted all over Australia. Today the Lone Pine is anything but a lonesome pine. "But it still looks a very fine tree." Propagating Lone Pine descendants ![]() "It's getting towards the end of its life we're told, so we watch it rather anxiously these days," Mr Burness said. ![]() The Lone Pine now stands some 30 metres tall despite suffering severe storm damage in December 2008.Ī large branch was broken off but the tree survived and the broken limb was crafted into keepsakes. "That connection with that name, and knowing that that name was associated with a terrible battle, lots of lives lost, that it was part of the Gallipoli campaign, makes the tree significant still." "Today we've forgotten so many battle names, but Lone Pine. the battle of Lone Pine puts a shiver down an old soldier's back, just the mention of it," he said. The tree is an Aleppo pine, not found naturally on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and it is thought the cone collected by Lance Corporal Smith was from branches imported by the Turks to build their defences.īut Australian War Memorial senior historian Peter Burness says the taxonomy of the tree does not affect its symbolic significance. Shortly after the ceremony, a severe thunderstorm hit the area and washed away a bridge but the sapling stood firm. The other was planted by the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Henry, in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial site in 1934 to honour all those who fell at Gallipoli. One was planted in Inverell where her sons had enlisted. Pine branches can be seen covering the trenches. The Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, captured on August 6, 1915, by the 1st Brigade AIF. Mrs McMullen kept the seeds sitting in a drawer for 13 years before planting them in 1928 and producing two seedlings. He sent them home to his mother in Inverell, New South Wales, in commemoration of his brother. Lance Corporal Benjamin Smith of the 3rd Battalion, whose brother Mark was killed in the Battle of Lone Pine, collected cones from the branches used to cover the trenches. It was to become a poignant symbol of the Anzac spirit, kept alive decades later in Australia through a son's love for his mother. The solitary pine was destroyed in the shelling but the site remained known as Lone Pine. ![]() Seven Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross for actions in the Battle of Lone Pine. The Australians gained vital ground, although the overall Gallipoli campaign proved unsuccessful. The main Turkish trench was taken within 20 minutes but over the following four days of hand-to-hand fighting more than 2,000 Australians were killed along with an estimated 7,000 Turks. On August 6, 1915, the 1st Brigade AIF (Australian Imperial Force) launched a diversionary offensive at Lone Pine ridge. It was even the subject of a popular wartime song, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. Soldiers used it as a reference point and the area became known as Lone Pine. ![]() Turkish troops had felled the area to fortify their trenches and the single pine stood out on the horizon. When Australian troops arrived at the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915, there was a ridge on which a solitary pine stood. It truly was a lonesome pine, standing isolated in an empty paddock at the foot of Mount Ainslie.įrom its tiny beginnings it grew into a living memorial of the Anzac campaign and its significance continues to grow today. Eighty years ago a pine sapling was planted in the grounds of the yet-to-be built Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
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