After the capture of the Lone Pine Ridge at Gallipoli in August 1915, an Australian soldier, Lance Corporal Benjamin Smith, who had taken part in the attack in which his brother was killed, found a pine cone on one of the branches of an Aleppo Pine (Pinus Halepensis) used by the Turks as an overhead cover for their trenches. He sent the cone home to his mother.
Seeds from the cone were planted by her in 1928 from which 2 seedlings were raised. One was forwarded to Canberra where it was planted by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester at the Australian War Memorial in October 1934.
The Yarralumla Nursery in Canberra has since raised and grown seedlings sourced from the tree at the Australian War Memorial.
Our member John Taylor was able to secure seedlings for the Aleppo Pine which were then planted at the Club under the supervision of Fraser Brown, the course superintendent. When the seedlings had matured into young trees, the Club decided to donate the two trees to the Bob Hawke College in Subiaco to commemorate the ANZAC landings in Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.
The trees were planted by students of the College on 11 November 2020 in the presence of their principal John Burke, the Subiaco Mayor, representatives of the RSL, and representatives of the Club, namely John Taylor, Fraser Brown and Michael Lewis.
