A bronze plaque has now been affixed to the bluestone surroundings of a Lone Pine sapling, which was planted on the grounds of Parade College’s Bundoora Campus last November to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.

Funding for the creation of the plaque came via a grant approved by the Federal Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Darren Chester through the Armistice Centenary Grants Program.

The plaque, measuring 300mm x 200mm and featuring the College and Association crests, was recently installed by the Campus’ maintenance team member Tuglio Valentino.

It carries the following inscription;

THIS LONE PINE

WAS PLANTED ON REMEMBRANCE DAY 2018

ON THE CENTENARY OF THE ARMISTICE

BY PARADE COLLEGE STUDENTS

TO COMMEMORATE ALL SOLDIERS, INCLUDING OLD PARADIANS, WHO PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE IN WAR

THIS TREE WAS PROPOGATED FROM SEED

COLLECTED FROM THE LONE PINE IN CANBERRA,

WHICH WAS GROWN FROM SEED SENT HOME

FROM GALLIPOLI AFTER THE BATTLE OF LONE PINE,

AUGUST 1915

LEST WE FORGET

Back in 2015, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Gallipoli Landing, the Association acquired the Lone Pine as a seedling in a forestry tube from the Australian War Memorial via Yarralumla Nursery. As council requirements dictated that the seedling was of insufficient height and root volume to be planted at the time, the Lone Pine remained in the Association’s care for the ensuing three years.

By late 2018, the Lone Pine, which can reach a height of 35 metres, met the planting requirements, and so a ceremony was arranged. Parade College Acting Principal Andy Kuppe was in attendance for last year’s ceremony, as was the College’s Vietnam veterans – former students Paul Stock, Paul Vaughan and his wife Sandra, Ian Dunn and his wife Joan, and John Sonneveld and his wife Liz, together with former teacher John Joss (who participated with student in the planting of the tree). Also present were veterans Peter Blackman, Alan Comben and John Stretch, whose daughter Marita, a former teacher at the College, facilitated the gathering.

The Old Paradians’ Association were represented by the then President Lewis Derrico, CEO Tony De Bolfo and committeeman Andy Walsh, and Parade's Year 7 students also took part.

The Lone Pine was a solitary tree on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, which marked the site of the Battle of Lone Pine in 1915. The tree was obliterated during the battle; however, pine cones that had remained attached to the cut branches over the trenches were retrieved by various Australian soldiers and brought home.

The resultant seedlings sent home by one soldier, were propagated from the pine cone. Today, one of those seedlings grows in College ground.