BADEN-POWELL AVENUE

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Avenues of Honour became popular after WW1 but their Australian origins lie in the Boer War.

This is the oldest of the six known Boer War Avenues of Honour. This makes Havelock the first Avenue of Honour planted in Australia.

Mr F W Allison head teacher at Havelock came up with the idea of a memorial avenue of trees from the State School to the Railway Station. The Tullaroop Shire and locals got behind the project. Stakes were cut for the tree guards and holes dug for 42 sugar gums provided by the Havelock State Nursery. 

The celebrations were held on 21st June 1900 and the rows of trees named Baden-Powell Avenue. Dignitories each planted a tree and named it after a person. Locals then eagerly vied to plant and name the remaining trees. The trees were named after: 

Queen Victoria

Prince of Wales

Duke of York

Duchess of York

Major General Robert Baden Powell

Various British generals and politicians          

Colonel Tom Price, 2nd Victorian Mounted Rifle

Major George Eddy 1st Victorian Mounted Infantry

Captain Robert Salmon.1sT Victorian Mounted Infantry

Other trees were named after local families – Allison, Dempster, Outtrim, Proctor, Hornsby, Young, McCullum, Hooper, Smith, Hetherington & Readhead.

27 of the original 42 trees still survive.

 

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