Kongwak Avenue of Honour

Korumburra-Wonthaggi Road,Kongwak, SOUTH GIPPSLAND SHIRE

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Vic. War Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

• Other Records For This Place
  • KONGWAK AVENUE OF HONOUR - South Gippsland Shire
• Additional Place Information

  • Physical Description 1

    Kongwak Avenue of Honour - Physical Description 1

    A few name plated trees in "main" street (Christie). Website indicates that planting commemorates soldiers of WW1 and WW2. 26 names transcribed for 1914-18; 60 names for 1939-45. Various species of trees?

    Historical Australian Themes

    Kongwak Avenue of Honour - Historical Australian Themes

    Remembering the fallen

    Usage/Former Usage

    Kongwak Avenue of Honour - Usage/Former Usage

    Commemoration

    Veterans Description for Public

    Kongwak Avenue of Honour - Veterans Description for Public

    The Kongwak Avenue of Honour, along the Korumburra-Wonthaggi Road, was planted in 1918. It was first dedicated tothe First and the rededicated following the Second World War. From the Kongwak district, twenty-six locals served in the First World War and sixty locals in the Second World War. The original planting was a mix of Horse Chestnut, Bunya Bunya Pine, Lombardy Poplar,Turkey Oak, Pin Oak and English Oak trees.Today only a few trees remain to mark where the avenue was planted.

    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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    KONGWAK AVENUE OF HONOUR

    

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    KONGWAK CO-OPERATIVE BUTTER & CHEESE FACTORY (FORMER)

    

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    Former Kongwak Co-Operative Butter Factory Ltd

    

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