Council to help plant and maintain new Aleppo Pine trees in Texas for ANZAC Day

The Lone Pines remembrance site at the Texas Cemetery will soon have three new Aleppo Pines planted in remembrance of all those who died in conflict.

Goondiwindi Regional Council agreed to support a request from the community on behalf of the Returned and Services League of Australia to help with the watering and ongoing maintenance of three new Aleppo (or ‘Lone’) Pines (Pinus halepensis).

The new saplings will replace three out of four original trees planted by the Texas RSL in 2003 that have since died while the region was in drought. The original trees and the new saplings have all been propagated from seeds collected from the Lone Pine Tree in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial.

Council has agreed to install a new irrigation system and prepare the area for planting, as well as to provide ongoing maintenance and watering of the trees by Council’s Texas parks and gardens crew.

Local David Parker is the driving force behind the project and said that paying respect to returned service members and those lost in conflict was an important part of the history of the Texas community.

“The Texas region has a proud military history - many of my returned relatives and ancestors are interred in Texas Cemetery,” Mr Parker said. “Even now, Texans are on active duty in the Australian military.

“The last surviving Texas Lone Pine and the three new saplings are all from the Australian War Memorial nursery in Canberra and are descendants of the original Lone Pine cones brought home by diggers after the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War,” he said.

Mr Parker and the Texas community raised funds for the purchase and delivery of the Lone Pine seedlings, which will be planted on ANZAC Day after the Texas Dawn Service. Further details about the planting and ceremony will be given closer to the time.

Mr Parker will announce the final total that was fundraised by the community for the project during the tree planting event.

Councillor Lachlan Brennan holds Council’s portfolio for Lifestyle, including Parks and Gardens, and said the generosity of the community had made this project possible.

“This is a fantastic example of grassroots local fundraising for a cause close to the community’s heart,” Cr Brennan said. “The Lone Pine is so symbolic of the ANZAC story and spirit, and is a very fitting commemoration to those who have served.”

The Texas Lone Pines were originally planted by the Texas RSL Sub-Branch on 25 April 2003 to commemorate all members of the Australian Defence Force who died during active service in all conflicts.

The Story of the Lone Pine

The Lone Pine was a solitary tree on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, which marked the site of the Battle of Lone Pine in August 1915. After the battle, which cost an estimated 2,000 Australian men, Lance Corporal Benjamin Charles Smith, 3rd Battalion AIF, collected several pine cones from the branches used to cover the Turkish trenches. He sent the cones home to his mother, Jane McMullin, in remembrance of his brother Mark, who had died in the fighting.

Mrs McMullin sowed several seeds from these cones and successfully raised two seedlings: one was planted in Inverell, where both her sons had enlisted. The other was presented to the

Australian War Memorial, Canberra, planted by HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, on 24 October 1934 in honour of all the sons who fell at Lone Pine.