Lone Pine seedling fails to grow, as Carramar residents Garry Cummings and granddaughter Lillian raise concerns
FAIRFIELD ADVANCE: Carramar resident Garry Cummings and granddaughter Lillian are concerned that Fairfield’s Lone Pine sapling is failing to grow.
Southwest
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RESIDENTS are dismayed that Fairfield’s Lone Pine seedling is being tarnished by rubbish and neglect in the lead-up to this year’s 100th anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli.
The sapling — grown from a direct descendant of pine cones sent home by soldiers who fought in World War I — is struggling to grow in its cage which is surrounded by a taller ring of rosemary bushes.
It is believed the tree is within a cage because it had been thrown into nearby Prospect Creek by vandals.
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It is now noticeably shorter than when it was first planted.
Wine casks, empty plastic bottles, lunch wrappers and soft drink cans lay strewn near the memorial site on Honour Ave, which is in the middle of Fairfield Park.
Carramar local Garry Cummings and granddaughter Lillian often walk past the commemorative landmark and are concerned about how run-down it looks.
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“It’s meant to be sacred but it’s looking very seedy,” Mr Cummings said.
“The plant really looks dead to me. It hasn’t grown at all. It should be tended by a gardener and given some fertiliser, the poor thing.”
A sandstone sign marker nearby has also been vandalised — the sign has been removed and the stonework is chipped.
“The sight of all this litter is a shame, it makes the place look terrible,” Mr Cummings said.
“They need to do something before Anzac Day.”
Fairfield West resident Andy Morris, son of a Gallipoli veteran who landed at Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915 and was injured in the battle of Lone Pine, said the amount of rubbish people had littered around the site was appalling.
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“People these days seem to have no respect,” he said.
“You wouldn’t believe the way some people carry on.”
Mr Cummings phoned Fairfield Council to let them know about the state of the tree, which came from the Yarralumla Nursery in Canberra, but has not received a response.
The Fairfield Advance has also asked the council for a comment on the state of the sapling, but it had not replied by the time of going to press.
Yarralumla Nursery has propagated Lone Pines since the 1950s.
The trees have all been grown from seed collected from the Lone Pine at the Australian War Memorial — which itself was planted from a seed originally taken from Gallipoli in 1915.
Fairfield Labor MP Guy Zangari says he is saddened by the fact people are throwing rubbish (pictured) in the area near the Lone Pine seedling at Fairfield Park.
“I am a bit concerned that the Lone Pine is being disregarded,” he said.
“The pine should have been watered by the respective people who are responsible.”
Mr Zangari said memorials should be respected at all times, and not just because the centenary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli is approaching.
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