At the cenotaph at the north west corner of Memorial Park is an angled brown rock with black marble tablet, and several plaques for the 'Lone Pine'. The left hand plaque reads:
THE BATTLE OF LONE PINE
"Much may have been forgotten about those who won fame at Gallipoli but two locations there are still well known. One is ANZAC Cove, the beach where most of the ANZACs landed on 25 April 1915
"The other is Lone Pine where between 6 and 9 August 1915 there took place one of the most hard-fought actions in Australian military history - the battle of Lone Pine.
"Australian casualties at Lone Pine amounted to over 2,000 men while the Turks estimated their losses at 6,930. When it was all over the dead lay thickly all around the position and the war diary of the 2nd Battalion AIF recorded that during the cleaning up process bodies were found in such a state of decomposition that men could only do the work by wearing gas masks.
"Charles Bean in his official history described Lone Pine as a battle of bombs and hand to hand fighting, 'the heaviest of its kind in which Australian troops ever took part'.
"Something of the desperate nature of the struggle can be understood by the fact that seven Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians for their courage at Lone Pine, five of them for actions on one day alone, 9 August 1915, an unprecedented event in Australian military history.
"Today, six of those Victoria Crosses are on display in a Lone Pine exhibition in the Australian War Memorial's Hall of Valour."
"THE LONE PINE"
(Pinus halepensis)
"On August 6th 1915, the first Australian Infantry Division launched a major offensive at plateau 400 at Gallipoli, Turkey. The ridges were once clothed with the Aleppo Pine Pinus halepensis) however, they had been cut down to cover line trenches, leaving one solitary pine. Hence it became known as Lone Pine Ridge. In the 3 days of fighting the ANZAC's lost over 2,000 men and the Turks losses were estimated at 6,930.
"Lance Corporal Benjamin Charles Smith of the 3rd Battalion sent back several cones to his mother in Inverell NSW. Mrs McMullen sowed some of the seeds some 13 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.
"Sergeant Keith McDowell of the 24th Battalion brought back a pinecone and gave it to his aunt, Mrs Emma Gray, Warnambool, Victoria. Four seedlings were grown and planted at several Shrines of Remembrance in Victoria.
"In 1990, two trees were take back to Gallipoli by war veterans who attended the memorial service that marked the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine Ridge.
"This tree was originally propagated from the tree at the Australian War Memorial. A combined project was undertaken by the Great Lakes Vietnam Veterans sub-branch (GLVVA) and the Rotary Club of Foster on Wallis (RCFOW) to have planted, within our town, as a living memory to "ANZACS" such a tree. Now that the appropriate protocol and due processes have been completed, what was once a thought, is now a living symbol to our nations heritage. We sincerely thank all of those people, who have participated and assisted us in our project. We give special thanks to the students of "Holy Name" school and children of the local Worimi People, who planted this tree, and the Forster Tuncurry RSL sub-branch for their help and cooperation."
LEST WE FORGET
Visited: 1550, Friday, 12 August, 2016