Essendon palm trees could honour Steve Irwin and other local legends
He’s famous for his “crikey” catchphrase and wrangling crocs, but Steve Irwin’s childhood was spent in Essendon. Now, there’s an ambitious idea to name a group of trees after notable locals, but is it just pie in the sky?
North West
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Up to 150 palm trees in Essendon could be named after local legends under a Moonee Valley Council plan.
Cr Richard Lawrence has put forward an idea to name each of the 143 Canary Island palm trees along Mount Alexander Rd, between Shamrock St and Leake St, after past or present notable members of the community.
The councillor said he wanted to combine the significance of the plantation with the significance of people including Steve Irwin, Archbishop Frank Little and Sam Merrifield.
Irwin was born in Essendon and grew up playing around Moonee Ponds Creek.
The famous crocodile hunter caught his first common brown snake in the Maribyrnong River at age six.
“They deserve the recognition and they are names that go down in some cases folklore in our municipality,” he said.
The names would be chosen by the council place naming committee, which consists of a councillor from each ward.
The proposal would see a small plaque placed at the base of each tree with the name of a person and a short blurb about their life.
Cr Lawrence said only five palm trees would be named each year under the initiative.
“It will be an exciting announcement to look forward to each year and to celebrate our significant Moonee Valley people and significant date palm plantation,” he said.
The palms were planted around 1929 when the tram tracks were duplicated on Mount Alexander Rd.
It is now the longest and largest single planting of Canary Island date palms in Victoria.
Cr Lawrence said the plantation was an Essendon landmark.
“They are just magnificent,” he said.
Cr Rebecca Gauci Maurici said the project would help the community engage more with the palm trees.
“This is an avenue people look at or catch the tram past and go past without necessarily engaging with it, and this is a really nice way to be able to engage with something that’s a really significant icon,” she said.
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Cr Cam Nation said while it was an interesting and positive initiative, he hoped to see an equal number of palms named between males and females.
“It is extremely important that we recognise all of the fantastic people who have come through,” he said.
The council has not yet costed the project or where the money would be sourced.
A report will be prepared with more details on the project and presented to council at a later date, where they will decide whether or not to go ahead with the project.