Looking for a unique gift for Christmas. Why not consider a Pinus halepensis or Lone Pine?
Photo: Lone Pine tube stock
available from Yarralumla Nursery
in the ACT
The history of the Lone Pine in Australia can be traced back to the Gallipoli Campaign which was fought on the Gallipolli Peninsula from April to December 1915. This week marks the 94th anniversary of the evacuation of the AIF from Anzac Cove.
Photo: Pinus halepensis growing at
the Lone Pine Memorial
[Munro Collection]
The Yarralumla Nursery’s website relates the history of the arrival of the Lone Pine in Australia.
The Turks had cut down all but one of the Allepo pines which grew on Plateau 400 to cover their trenches. This ridge, dominated by the single pine became known as Lone Pine. Australians lost more than 2000 men and the Turks losses were estimated at 7000 in the three days of fighting which took place in August 1915. Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded.
Lance Corporal Benjamin Smith of the 3rd Battalion, whose brother was killed in the battle, sent a pine cone home to their mother, Mrs McMullen in Inverell, New South Wales. She grew two seedlings, one of which she presented to the town of Inverell and the other to the Parks and Gardens section of the Department of the Interior in Canberra. This second seedling was planted at the Australian War Memorial by the Governor General, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, in October 1934. Today it stands over 20 metres in height.
Sergeant Keith McDowell of the 24th Battalion carried a pine cone in his haversack until the end of the war. Upon returning to Australia, he gave it to his aunt, Mrs Emma Gray of Grassmere near Warrnambool, Victoria. Four seedlings were grown. One was planted in Wattle Park, Melbourne, another at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, yet another at the Soldiers Memorial Hall at The Sisters and the last was planted in the Warrnambool Gardens.
In 1990, two trees were taken back to Gallipoli with war veterans who attended the memorial service to mark the 75th anniversary of the battle of Lone Pine.
Pinus halepensis or Lone Pines are available from
Yarralumla Nursery
Banks Street,
Yarralumla
ACT 2600
Phone: 02 6207 2444
Fax: 02 6207 2455
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The Families and Friends of the First AIF applauds the joint Australian–UK decision, announced by The Hon Greg Combet AM MP and the Hon Kevan Jones MP, to conduct a full DNA testing program on the remains of Australian and British soldiers found in mass graves at Pheasant Wood (Fromelles), and for their continuing commitment to identify as many of the fallen as is possible. We also thank the Australian, UK and French governments for affording dignified individual reburials for these soldiers, buried by German soldiers following the Battle of Fromelles on 19/20 July 1916, in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery presently under construction at Fromelles.