Avenues of Honour

An Avenue of Honour is a memorial road or pathway lined with trees, planted to commemorate individuals, especially soldiers, who served in wars or conflicts. This tradition was popular in Australia and New Zealand, symbolising the remembrance of those who served and, in many cases, those who died. Although significant after World War One, this form of memorial had declined in popularity by the time of World War Two.

I knew of the Avenue of Honour at Balllarat. It is significant as being the earliest known memorial avenue to have been planted in Victoria. It commemorates those from Ballarat and district who served in World War One and is the longest in Australia being 22 kilometres in length.

Its planting stimulated similar avenues of trees throughout Victoria in the years 1917 to 1921. They predominate in Victoria with the greatest concentration here in the Central Highlands around Ballarat. 

I’m staying at the Central Victorian Goldfields town of Creswick with other members of my Probus Club and today, we set out to do some exploring around the local area.

We had seen reference to an Avenue of Honor at a location called Addington. Like many areas around Ballarat, small mining settlements like this one flourished during the gold rush era. It was originally a bustling community with stores, a school, and hotels, but much of the population dispersed after mining declined and now there is virtually nothing left apart from a few houses and the site of the original primary school.

There is, however, an avenue of trees on a road that is well away from the current highway. It’s probably where the original town would have been. It commemorates the service of around local thirty men who enlisted fior duty in WW1

Further down the road at a the locality of Weatherboard, we found another avenue of trees.  In the early 1830s and 1840s, European settlers arrived in the region as part of the pastoral boom, establishing sheep and cattle stations. The name “Weatherboard” is believed to refer to an early structure or homestead in the area, constructed from weatherboard – a popular building material at the time. Patriotism was strong at the time of WW1 and little communities like this punched above their weight in contributing men to the war effort.

The plaque on the memorial reads:

TO OUR FALLEN.
Erected By
Ballarat & District Fathers Association.  

“They Buckled Their Belts About Them.  
They Crossed In Ships The Sea. 
They Fought And Found Six Feet Of Ground
And Died For You And Me”.

Near the town of Lake Learmonth, we came across a third memorial which we later found to be the very end of the Avenue of Honour that runs for 22 kilometres from the Arch of Victory in Ballarat. It extends across the Western Highway and ends at the cairn at the corner of Weatherboard and Avenue Roads at Weatherboard.

This cairn was built by the Ballarat and District Soldiers` Father’s Associaiton in 1936.  

Our coming across these interesting places just show the value of exploring country roads and byways. You never know what you might find when you get off the beaten track!