The Ballarat Avenue of Honour

The Ballarat Avenue of Honour

The Ballarat Avenue of Honour is significant as the earliest known memorial avenue to have been planted in Victoria, and appears to have stimulated similar plantings throughout Victoria in the years 1917 to 1921.

where the Avenue of Honour is located in the City of Ballarat
(Victoria, Australia)

They predominate in Victoria with the greatest concentration in the Central Highlands around Ballarat. These avenues represent a new egalitarian approach in the commemoration of soldiers where service rank was not a consideration and are illustrative of a peculiarly Australian, populist and vernacular response to the experience of the First World War.

They had declined in popularity as a means of commemoration by the time of the Second World War.

The Ballarat Avenue is the longest avenue of honour in Australia and, composed of exotic trees planted along a major road, is a dominant landscape feature in the low farming country with a powerful social message.

Leading into the city is an unusual and imaginative war memorial; a fine arch floodlit by night and 22 kilometres of tree-lined avenues commemorating the men and women of Ballarat who served in the First World War.

On 3 June 1917, the first 1,000 trees in the Avenue were planted by staff from the local textile mill E. Lucas & Co. Just over two years later the final planting took place on 16 August 1919, with a total of 3,771 trees extending over a distance of approximately 22 kilometres (14 miles) along the Ballarat-Burrumbeet Road. It incorporates the Ballarat Arch of Victory .

There were eight plantings in all, which took place sometime between June and August each year and usually consisted of around 500 trees. The trees were planted in single lines along either side of the road at a regular spacing of 35-40ft apart, and set back from the edge of the carriageway approximately 15-20ft. 

Each newly planted tree was protected by a substantial timber guard, to which a plate bearing each soldiers name, rank and unit was attached.

Memorial Wall Project
10m long x 1.8m high wall with bronze plates recording the names and
tree numbers of the service men and women honoured in the Avenue

1993 Memorial Wall Project adjacent to the Arch of Victory officially opened by Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop on May 16th. Erected at a cost of approx. $140,000 the project comprised a 10m long x 1.8m high wall with bronze plates recording the names and tree numbers of the service men and women honoured in the Avenue, and included the relocation of the Memorial Rotunda from outside the Ballarat Golf Club erected in 1938.

the following two images are not mine, first one is from the Creswick Lighthorse Website:

On the 6^th November 2012 the Avenue of Honour and the renovated Arch of Victory in Ballarat
were re-opened and re-dedicated in memory of the Fallen Soldiers it represents. 
We (Creswick Lighthorse) were asked by the Ballarat RSL to take part in the rededication
in full uniform and on horse. 
We kitted up in the grounds of Ballarat High School at 10am for the Parade at 10.30am

The Ballarat Arch of Victory, completed in 1920.
image from the website of the University of Ballarat - Pipe Band

with many thanks to the "Friends of The Shrine", the "Shrine of Remembrance" (Melbourne) and all those involved in creating the Military History Tour of Ballarat that allowed so many of us to gain more knowledge of our Military History.


the following URL's maybe of interest:

• Avenue of Honour
• Creswick Lighthorse
• University of Ballarat - Pipe Band
• Ballarat Genealogical Society
• ABC Ballarat - Arch of Victory re-opening
• Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance
• Friends of The Shrine
• Ballarat RSL

the previous blog post is on the STURT STREET WALKING TRAIL in Ballarat.


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Sturt Street Walking Trail in Ballarat

Sturt Street, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.Sturt Street is Ballarat's main thoroughfare and much of its original architecture remains, with prime corner sites reserved for churches and public buildings.

Some of the buildings of note include the impressive Town Hall (1859), the Ballarat Mechanics Institute (1859) and the old Post Office Building (1864).

The street is also lined with historic monuments and statues.

Boer War Memorial

This poignant memorial commemorates the soldiers who took part in the Boer War in South Africa between 1899 and 1902. The construction of the bronze statue was approved in 1900 and the foundation stone laid a year later. The statue was relocated to the present site and unveiled by Governor General Baron Northcote in November 1906.

There is a booklet available through Ballarat Regional Tourism titled "Ballarat Heritage Walking Trails" and in this booklet is a section on the Sturt Street Statue Walking Trail. It is well worth getting hold of a copy.  Most of the information written here about each of the monuments or statues came directly from that booklet.

special thanks to Phillip Hunting who brought the history to life as he acted out the accounts of a 15th Brigade soldier in front of the Pompey Elliot Statue as part of the Military History Tour of Ballarat held by the "Friends of the Shrine of Remembrance" last week.

One the monuments and memorials along Sturt Street recognises a senior First World War leader who commanded the 7th Battalion at Gallipoli and the 15th Brigade at the Western Front.

Harold 'Pompey' Elliott attended Ballarat College (now Ballarat and Clarendon College) from 1885 and shortly after began military service.

Former Australian Defence Force General Peter Cosgrove helped unveil the statue created by artist Louis Laumen in May 2011.

Sir Albert Coates

This memorial tells the tale of Sir Albert Coates and provides an excellent example of contemporary statuary and commemorates Albert Coates, a doctor who was a Prisoner of War of the Japanese during World War Two.

He became a prisoner of the Japanese and in May 1942 was sent to Burma. Conditions were deplorable, the treatment brutal, and the death rate enormous. In 1944 he became responsible for a major prisoners’ hospital in Thailand.

After the war Coates returned to Melbourne and resumed his distinguished medical career. In 1953 he was made a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and in 1955 received a knighthood.

Peter Lalor
The hero of Eureka

In Sturt Street, between St Andrew's Kirk and St Patrick's Cathedral stands an impressive monument, fashioned in pink granite and bronze. The figure of Peter Lalor is mounted high in the air looking to the east to the diggings where the stockade was located. If he could open his eyes today he would see the huge mast and flag above the Eureka Interpretive Centre. He is dressed in his Speaker's wig and parliamentary robes which cover the stump of his missing arm.

The bronze relief tablets mounted around the base tell the Eureka story.

The south and north panels depict tableaus of Peter Lalor's life, a battle scene in the Eureka Stockade with the Eureka flag flying above and as a member of Parliament.

The western tablet is a memorial to the men (named) who were killed while fighting at The Eureka Stockade, December 3rd, 1854.

Memorial to Australian forces involved in these conflicts:
* Korean War 1950-53
* The Malayan Emergency 1950-60
* Borneo Uprising 1962-64
* Vietnam War 1962-72

A walk along Sturt Street is a great way to get a sense of the story of Ballarat with many good food or coffee shops along the way.

Sturt Street was named after a Police Magistrate who was the brother of explorer Charles Sturt.

The Queen Alexandra Bandstand
in the background and in the foreground,
the back of the statue of
Harold 'Pompey' Elliot

The Alexandra Bandstand is a typical and well resolved example of creative bandstand design; its polygonal form surmounted by a "Moorish" onion dome is representative of bandstands of this period. The bandstand has particularly fine wrought iron detailing incorporating musical motifs and is an important and exotic element of the streetscape of Sturt Street.

Built in 1908 during the heyday of the band movement, it is now one of the few remaining examples of bandstands in Victoria. It serves as a tangible reminder of a highly popular form of entertainment, prominent on the community agenda for many years. The construction of the bandstand and its survival until now also reflects the prominence of music in Ballarat's cultural and civic identity.

There are many more statue's and monuments to discover as you wander along Sturt Street in Ballarat. The above is just a small sample of what you will see!


Ballarat Regional Tourism
43 Lydiard St, Ballarat.

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