General News
9 November, 2022
Trees planted in solidarity
PANMURE Primary School was among 100 Victorian schools to plant a Lone Pine in commemoration of the Anzac spirit and celebration of the Republic of Turkey.
PANMURE Primary School was among 100 Victorian schools to plant a Lone Pine in commemoration of the Anzac spirit and celebration of the Republic of Turkey.
The Lone Pine trees, and the act of planting them, symbolise the connection Anzac and Turkish soldiers developed in the trenches of Gallipoli in 1915.
The project sought to affirm the friendship between Australians and Turks which has stood for more than a century.
Each tree was grown from seedlings brought to Australia from Gallipoli, and propagated from original pines at Warrnambool Botanic Garden by former CSIRO botanist DrLex Thomson.
Panmure Primary School acting principal Scott Kenyon said the occasion provided an opportunity to further student engagement.
“The students were able to plant the tree and select the space where they wanted it to grow,” he said.
“The Friends of Gallipoli were able to chat with the students about the significance of bringing the seedling from another country and growing those Lone Pines, which hopefully in 40-50 years could again be propagated from Panmure Primary School.
“It is pretty exciting.”
Mr Kenyon said the event ties in with what students are learning as Remembrance Day approaches this week.
“Part of our Victorian curriculum is the history of World War Two and of the Anzacs,”he said.
“During Remembrance Day and Anzac Day a lot of our learning will be based around what occurred and connecting it back to the piece of history we’ve now got on our site.
“With the curriculum, and as students grow as people, they’ll be able to understand it a little more.”
Students received educational material from Dr Thomson on Lone Pines and the process of tree propagation and care.
In addition to the trees schools also received a plague quoting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and educational material on how to best care for the tree.