Trees 269 - 318
After a bout of sickness, I managed to pull myself out of bed and do a much-needed tree walk, and as a reward I found this lovely row of trees in McLeod! First, I explored an area of bushland across from the McLeod YMCA, and despite the damp weather, enjoyed a quiet wander. After a good look around, I walked further up towards Cherry St to take a closer look at the trees I'd often passed, but not taken too much notice of.
I was excited to find a most stunning row of sugar gums, and some information telling me what they were all about. This is the 'Avenue of Honour', and a plaque which was unveiled on April 23rd, 1990 (https://wikinorthia.net.au/macleod-avenue-of-honour/) advised that this row of trees was planted in 1919, in 'memory of fallen comrades by World War 1 Veterans who were patients at No. 16 Australian General Hospital, Mont Park.' The plaque itself was to honour 'the fallen from the 1914-18, 1939-45 and subsequent conflicts'.
The story goes, (as provided by the local and family history librarian at Yarra Plenty Regional Library on the site 'Wikinorthia.net.au') that in 1909, the Victorian State Government started the Mont Park Mental Hospital, which was taken over by the Federal Government from 1916 to 1924 to be used as the No. 16 Australian General Hospital, Mont Park, and Military Sanatorium and No. 14 Army Auxiliary Hospital were in buildings nearby, where 'thousands of returned men (soldiers) were cared for with 1200 in residence at any one time'. As part of what was seen as an 'innovative' approach, patients were given activities to do as part of their recuperation, including running a dairy and caring for poultry, as well as maintaining a plant nursery and the garden, supplying the hospitals with fruit and vegetables. This led to the project in 1919 in which patients 'grew from seed and planted the sugar gums which were called the Avenue of Honour'.
One hundred and six years later, in July, 2025, I found myself walking amongst these stunning, mature trees and pondering their existence, and thanking the soldiers for planting the trees. And on reflection, this was quite a suitable walk for me to do as I recovered from a chest infection!
Add comment
Comments