AUSTRALIA’S ONLY SUPPLIER OF GENUINE LONE PINE DESCENDENT TREES, TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

PLEASE NOTE: We usually supply 3 or 4 year old trees. We are currently out of stock and have no young trees for sale.

Out of stock. Website is still up as a source of information only.

We thank everyone who has supported the Lone Pine Trees project. Trees have been supplied to RSLs, leading parks and gardens, universities, schools, private gardens and cemeteries across Australia.

Gallipoli Lone Pine Trees was established to preserve the line of genuine descendent trees - not for mass production or a commercial exercise.

Enquirers include sons of veterans from the Battle of Lone Pine - who it was a privilege to meet.

One enquiry from Alice Springs followed an old serviceman’s Will request - “Bury me under a Lone Pine”.

ENQUIRY:  0439 475 055  

We are a leading supplier of trees to Australian schools. Parks and gardens with our trees include historic North Sydney and Parramatta Parks. 

Unfortunately quarantine restrictions mean we can’t supply to WA, Tasmania and NT.

What is a true Lone Pine?

We are the only supplier of genuine Lone Pines (Pinus brutia) to the public. 

That is, direct descendents of the Lone Pine tree that stood at the Lone Pine battle site in 1915.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:  The vast majority of trees sold to the public in Australia are actually not descended from the true Lone Pine. Although described as ‘Lone Pines’ by nurseries, the trees they sell are usually Pinus halepensis. These trees are a different species to the tree that stood on Lone Pine Ridge in 1915.

WHY ARE THERE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF ‘LONE PINE’? Details are described below. It’s about provenance. 

TREE PROVENANCE

Most trees described as 'Lone Pine descendant’ trees in Australia are not descended from the tree that stood on Lone Pine Ridge in 1915. Many trees have been planted over the years at memorials. But most 'Lone Pine' trees supplied in Australia are offspring derived from other sources and other species. Usually, the non-genuine trees are Pinus halepensis. If it says 'halepensis' on the tag, the tree is not a descendant of the Lone Pine that stood at the battle site (a Pinus brutia).  

Many of the 'halipensis' trees are descended from a pine cone originally taken from a Turkish trench log brought to Gallipoli by Turkish trench builders.

AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC STUDY

Australian Geographic Magazine explains the Lone Pine provenance issue in an article displayed on our Blog Page:   http://www.lonepinetrees.com/blog/

Lone Pine battle site.

"Nothing was as bad as Lone Pine"  - Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead.  Lone Pine veteran.  Commander of the Australian 9th Division, 'Rats' of Tobruk.

The Battle of Lone Pine took place between August 6 and 10 in 1915 during the eight month Allied Gallipoli Campaign. Known as Plateau 400 or Lone Pine at Gallipoli, the fortified ridge position was marked by a single pine tree at the top.  More information about the battle is on our CONFLICT Page: http://www.lonepinetrees.com/battle

Thomas Keith McDowell of the Australian 23rd. Battalion retrieved a cone from the actual Lone Pine tree’s blasted branches. McDowell carried the cone for the rest of the war and on his return to Australia gave it to his aunt at Grassmere near Warrnambool in Victoria.

In June 1933 a tree propagated from the cone was planted at the Shrine of Remembrance in the Kings Domain in Melbourne. This iconic Lone Pine lasted for decades but was removed in 2012 after storm damage and failed health.

Why are there 2 species of ‘Lone Pines’?

Lone Pine memorial trees in Australia are usually from 2 lines. Both originate from the battle site.

But only one variety is from the actual tree which stood on Lone Pine Ridge at Gallipoli. 

This has happened because 2 soldiers took pine cones from Lone Pine Ridge. But only one cone was from the actual Lone Pine tree.

Thomas Keith McDowell, a Victorian, of the *23rd Battalion, collected a pine cone from the remains of the actual Lone Pine (Pinus brutia). He brought the cone home and gave it to his Aunt. This provided the seeds for the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance tree. 

Four trees were planted from Keith’s cone. The first at Wattle Park in Melbourne, May 1933, at the trooping of the colour of the 24th Brigade, at their parade ground. Now a football oval. This planting was the first Lone Pine memorial tree in Australia. The 24th was the sister Battalion of Keith McDowell’s 23rd.

The second tree was planted one month later at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. This became Australia’s best known Lone Pine.

In the same month (June 1933) a third tree was planted at The Sisters, near Terang, Victoria.

In January 1934 the fourth tree was planted at Warnambool Botanic Gardens, Victoria.

The Wattle Park tree, and Warnambool tree are still living.

New South Welshman, Lance Corporal Benjamin Charles Smith of the 3rd Battalion collected a pine cone from one of the roofing logs used in the fortification, which provided seeds for descendant trees propagated and grown in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. These trees are Pinus halepensis, not native to the Gallipoli Peninsula. 

A study by botanists**, (New Zealand botanist Mike Wilcox and Australian forestry scientists David Spencer and Roger Arnold) featured in Australian Geographic Magazine in 2011, confirmed that the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance tree is indeed Pinus brutia, native to the Gallipoli Peninsula. The true 'Lone Pine'.

The study also found the Lone Pine tree at the Australian War Museum (in Canberra) is a different species - an Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis), native to other parts of the Mediterranean. It is concluded that many of the roofing beams or logs at Lone Pine (which provided Benjamin Smith’s New South Wales cone) had been hurriedly shipped in for fortifications from somewhere else in Turkey, or the Mediterranean. Beams like these were dragged apart during the storming of the ridge, to get access to the trenches. 

These findings don’t affect the various Lone Pine memorial trees’ symbolic significance. Regardless of species or location, the trees stand as a commemoration of lives lost, of the bond between Australia and New Zealand, and a symbol of friendship between the Australian and Turkish people.

The findings confirm however that the Gallipoli Lone Pine trees listed here are true descendants of the original Lone Pine at Lone Pine Ridge. 

Other trees being offered for sale in Australia are likely to be Allepo Pines (Pinus halepensis) from stocks in the ACT and NSW, and are not descendants of the original Lone Pine tree. Pine trees from Yarralumla Nursery in ACT are in this category - i.e. originally sourced from a log used in trench construction*.

**Source: Australian Geographic Magazine, 11/10/2011. 

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2011/10/lone-pine-seeds-grown-into-a-living-memorial/

http://www.nationalregisterofbigtrees.com.au/listing/180.pdf

*T. K. McDowell sometimes referred to as being in the 24th Battalion - the 23rd’s sister Battalion. Sometimes listed as a Sergeant and may have been promoted during service. However his AIF plaque in Frankston Cemetery lists Keith as ‘Private T. K. McDowell, 23rd Battalion’. The 23rd’s colour patch is a diamond with brown above and red below - the Mud and Bloods.

Pinus brutia trees will always be limited.

GENUINE LONE PINE TREES (Pinus brutia) ARE VERY RARE.  

Germinating seed from the descendant trees (Pinus brutia) is difficult. This is because an exotic tree species, grown in isolation with no partner trees in the district, gets limited cross-pollination needed for fertility. Most of the remaining genuine Lone Pine trees are in this category. It appears the older and more isolated the tree is, the more likely the seeds will fail.

Growing Pinus brutia

The original tree was on a dry sandy ridge exposed to extreme coastal conditions. “A small ragged pine tree standing out very gauntly” (Major Athelstan Markham, 2nd Field Company of Engineers). But the species usually grows larger. The tree needs a lot of space, growing in maturity to a potential width of 25 ft. (8m) and up to 60 ft. (18m) high depending on soil type and conditions. Native to Turkey, it is full sun tolerant and frost hardy. Ideally suited for large or rural garden.

Warning: kangaroos and deer will eat young pinus Brutia. A stout wire barrier is needed in a bush or field garden.

Pinus brutia is a popular international ornamental tree, planted in parks and gardens around the world in dryer locations, valued for its considerable heat and drought tolerance.