Kingston Avenue of Honour

Creswick-Newstead Road,Kingston, HEPBURN SHIRE

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Vic. War Heritage Inventory

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Statement of Significance

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  • Physical Description 1

    Kingston Avenue of Honour - Physical Description 1

    Avenue planted as a tribute to those who served in WW1. Ulmus x hollandica (Dutch Elm), height 16 m, 285 trees. A stone plaque reads: "Shire of Creswick Avenue of Honour a tribute to the men and women who served in the Great War 1914-1918.
    
    Location: On either side of Creswick-Newstead Road, beginning approximately 500m north of junction with Midland Highway and continuing to township of Kingston; with some breaks the Avenue runs through the town itself to the northern limit of the buildings of Kingston. It is then continued towards Smeaton with apparently more recent plantings. The area considered here does not include the section within the town of Kingston or that running north to Kingston, since the uniformity of the design is abrogated on entering the town.
    
    There are extensive evenly spaced plantings of exotic trees along the roadway. A memorial is situated on the east side of the roadway, 100m north of the present Kingston township. The avenue is a key landscape feature in the shire. The contrast between the evenly planted avenue and the flat farmland on either side gives a distinctive ambience to the site. As well the pattern of the avenue plantings are repeated in hedgerows along the boundaries of the road reservation.
    
    Trees are labelled, each with the name of a soldier.

    Historical Australian Themes

    Kingston Avenue of Honour - Historical Australian Themes

    Remembering the fallen

    Usage/Former Usage

    Kingston Avenue of Honour - Usage/Former Usage

    Commemoration

    Veterans Description for Public

    Kingston Avenue of Honour - Veterans Description for Public

    The Creswick Avenue, along the Creswick-Newstead Road, was planted to commemorate the First World War. The avenue was opened on December 18th 1927 by Captain T. Parkin along with a memorial obelisk, unveiled by Brigadier General Elliott, DSO. Elliot addressed his audience in familiar patriotic tones and stressed the continuing links between Australia and the United Kingdom.

    The Avenue contained 286 trees each one representing each man or woman from the shire who served in the military forces between 1914 and 1918. Each tree originally bore a tablet with the name of a volunteer but over the years some have faded or been erased. Graham's 'Early Creswick' contains an alphabetical listing of all those remembered in the avenue with the number of each tree originally bearing their individual names. The trees consisted of Dutch Elms (Ulmus x hollandica) and stand at a height of 16 metres. A stone plaque reads: "Shire of Creswick Avenue of Honour a tribute to the men and women who served in the Great War 1914-1918.

    The granite obelisk sits on a pedestal, protected by granite post and wire fence. As well as the inscription dedicating the Avenue of Honour, a plaque has been added to commemorate -

    "The Service of Our Men and Women in World War 1, World War 2, And in the Borneo, Malaya, Korea and Vietnam Campaigns. 'Only Those Deserve Freedom Who Are Prepared to Defend it.' Lest We Forget."

    In Australia, commemorative trees have been planted in public spaces since the late nineteenth century. Arbor Days were held regularly in most Victorian State Schools during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and numerous trees were planted in parks in Melbourne and throughout Victoria to mark the visits of important and famous people.

    This tradition of commemorative planting was continued in 1901 when at the end of the Boer War trees were often planted for each soldier of the district who was killed in South Africa. These plantings, however, rarely consisted of more than two or three trees in each town.

    During and after the First World War avenues of honour consisting of trees lining significant streets became a popular form of commemoration. They represented a new egalitarian approach to the commemoration of soldiers where rank was not a consideration: each tree symbolises a person.

    Avenues of honour are a uniquely Australian phenomenon. Australians, and in particular Victorians, embraced the idea of planting them more enthusiastically than any other country in the world. Dating from May 1916, the Eurack Avenue of Honour is the earliest known avenue of honour to be planted in Victoria.

    By the time of the Second World War avenues of honour had declined in popularity as a means of commemoration. Today it is estimated that over 300 avenues of honour have been planted in Victoria to commemorate service personnel since 1901.
    
    

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