Canberra: AWM … Lone Pine Tree

Lone Pine — on Turkey’s Gelibolu Peninsula … site of the Gallipoli Campaign of WWI — is where the ANZAC and Turkish soldiers fought one of the battles of the campaign. It was so named due to the single pine tree that stood at the site.

The story goes that an Australian soldier, whose brother had died in the Lone Pine Battle, found a pine cone in the tree branches the Turkish soldiers had used to cover their trenches. He sent the cone to his mother, who planted the seeds from it in the ground at their home. Two saplings grew from the planting … one was sent to New South Wales and the other was planted by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

The tree remains where it was planted, though it did suffer some damage during a strong storm in 2008. The tree is apparently coming near the end of its natural life span. So, on ANZAC Day 2014, Prince William and Kate — then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — planted another sapling propagated from seeds gathered after the Battle of Lone Pine. Thus, the tradition continues.

Both of the trees are in what is called the Sculpture Precinct … adjacent to the AWM. So, after our visit to the Hall of Memory, we headed over there to take a look at them.

By the way, there are a number of these trees around Australia … propagated in the same manner.

(If interested, this link will take you to the photo gallery from my 2008 visit to the sites of the Gallipoli Campaign. You’ll recognize the ones from Lone Pine from the single tree in the cemetery that now sits on those hallowed grounds … https://eenusa.smugmug.com/Europe/Turkey-2008/G….)Read more