ANZAC DAY

To commemorate the sacrifices made by Australian soldiers, we are planting a lone pine on each of the three campuses.   The history of these trees is very interesting.

On 6 August, 1915, the 1st Australian Infantry Division launched a major offensive at Plateau 400 at Gallipoli, Turkey.  The ridges were once clothed with the Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis) but they were cut down to cover and line trenches, leaving one solitary pine.  Hence it became known as Lone Pine Ridge.  In the three days of fighting the ANZACs lost 2000 men and the Turks’ losses were estimated at 7000.

Lance Corporal Benjamin Charles Smith of the 3rd Battalion sent back several cones to his mother in Inverell N.S.W.  Mrs McMullen sowed some of the seeds some thirteen years later.  Two seedlings were grown and one was presented to the town of Inverell.  The Duke of Gloucester planted the second tree at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

In 1990 two trees were taken back to Gallipoli by war veterans who attended the memorial service that marked the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine Ridge.

The trees at PEGS were propagated from seed collected from the tree at the Australian War Memorial.