For shade, colour and in memory of sacrifice
Amenity and memorial tree planting in Queensland’s towns and cities, 1915–55
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2015.4Keywords:
Deforestation, exotic tree species, town planning efforts, 1910s-1920s, interwar period, memorialisationAbstract
During the inter-war period, parts of Queensland were subjected to continued deforestation as successive state governments encouraged more intensive use of the state’s vast land reserves. Yet running parallel to this process was the deliberate planting of mainly exotic tree species — although it was on a small scale and located mostly throughout the streets of the state’s urban centres. This activity can be considered part of the earliest town planning efforts to improve the quality of the urban landscape in Queensland’s settlements, through the provision of shade and attractive surroundings. However, the public demands for street trees can also be seen as part of a wider community movement that was concerned about the type of environment being created in Queensland, particularly as so much of the state’s native forests were being destroyed and parts of the state during the 1910s and 1920s were overrun with prickly pear.
References
For general details on deforestation in Queensland after 1900, see Ross Fitzgerald, From 1915 to the early 1980s: A history of Queensland (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1984), pp. 79–83.
Lyndal Plant and Adam Tom, ‘Brisbane’s urban forest’, Trees and Natural Resources (March 1996), 6.
For the most comprehensive accounts on this topic, see the following: Chris McConville, Sean O’Keeffe and Marie Lynch, ‘The town planning association in Queensland 1915–1934: Socialism, regularity and property rights’, in Proceedings 9th Australasian Urban History Planning History Conference, 2008, pp. 237–48; John Minnery and Darryl Low Choy, ‘Early innovations and false starts’, in Brendan Gleeson and Wendy Steele (eds), A climate for growth: Planning for South-east Queensland (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 2010), pp. 23–38; and Mark Baker, Visions, dreams and plans: Selected aspects of the history of town planning in Queensland (Brisbane: Author, 2012).
Stefan Petrow, ‘Planning pioneer: R.A. McInnis and town planning in Queensland 1922–1944’, Journal Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 16(7) (1997), 28.
Jean Sim, ‘Designed landscapes in Queensland, 1859–1939: Experimentation-adaption-innovation’, unpublished PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology (1999), pp. 305–6.
Peter Griggs, ‘Creating shady places: Street tree-planting and public garden formation in Queensland’s towns and cities, 1840–1914’, Queensland History Journal, 22(6) (2014), pp. 441–57.
For the formation of these towns, see Meredith Walker, Historic towns in Queensland (Brisbane: National Trust of Queensland, 1981), pp. 1–18, 1–26 and 1–27, and Baker, Visions, dreams and plans, pp. 13–16.
Townsville Daily Bulletin, 4 November 1944, 5.
For additional details, see Baker, Visions, dreams and plans, pp. 26–7.
Courier-Mail, 25 September 1936, 15; 1 August 1938, 3; 5 December 1938, 8; 3 May 1939, 5.
Gordon Greenwood and John Laverty, Brisbane 1859–1959: A history of local government (Brisbane: Council of the City of Brisbane, 1959), pp. 410–11; Jean Sim, ‘Superintending the parks by Harry Moore’, in Rod Fisher (ed.), Brisbane: Houses, gardens, suburbs and congregations (Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 2010), pp. 128 and 138; Centenary Park, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Entry No. 602442, p. 1, Queensland Heritage Register, http://www.derm.qld.gov.au (hereafter QHR).
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Courier-Mail, 28 November 1934, 17 and 9 January 1935, 10.
Courier-Mail, 15 January 1936, 13; 3 December 1937, 16; Item 1488/1935–36 re: street tree planting in Brisbane, in ‘Proceedings BCC, 1935–36’, 622; for examples of requests from residents or community organisations to the council for street trees, see Item 844/1937–38 re: tree planting request by Sherwood Progress Association, in ‘Proceedings BCC 1937–38’, 370 and Item 1451/1938–39 re: tree planting Dewar Terrace, Corinda, in ‘Proceedings BCC, July 1938-June 1939’, 633, BCCA.
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Gaye Loveday and Fahey Schulz, Mundubbera 1915 to 1995: Eighty years of local government (Mundubbera: Mundubbera Shire Council, 1995), p. 44; Courier-Mail, 22 May 1937, 7 and 25 October 1940, 4; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 7 July 1944, 2; Townsville Daily Bulletin, 9 July 1953, 8.
For the tree species planted in these towns, see Courier-Mail, 9 December 1939, 13 (Roma); Townsville Daily Bulletin, 23 January 1924, 10 (Atherton); Morning Bulletin, 4 June 1941, 4 (Barcaldine); Longreach Leader, 20 August 1938, 5 (Muttaburra);Courier-Mail, 8 September 1938, 4 (Dulacca); and Patricia Gee, Redcliffe: Looking at the landscape: A history of the creeks, reclamation and trees and of the names of streets, suburbs and parks (Redcliffe: Redcliffe City Council, 2007), pp. 196–7.
For the tree species planted in these towns, see: Townsville Daily Bulletin, 23 January 1924, 10 (Atherton); Morning Bulletin, 4 June 1941, 4 (Barcaldine); Cairns Post, 2 July 1954, 7 (Cairns); Loveday and Schulz, Mundubbera 1915 to 1995, p. 44; and Morning Bulletin, 15 May 1937, 14; and 6 May 1939, 11 (Rockhampton).
Item 430/1949–50 re: tree planting program, in ‘Minutes ofMeetings Brisbane City Council, July 1949 to June 1950, 148, BCCA; Courier- Mail, 19 March 1936, 14; 20 August 1949; 1 and 26 September 1950, 3; Brisbane City Council, AR, 1947–48, 42.
The Queenslander, 27 December 1928, 9; Steve Csurhes (ed.), Mesquite (Prosopis spp.) in Queensland (Brisbane: Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, 1996), http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/documents/Biosecurity_EnvironmentalPests/IPA-Mesquite-PSA.pdf.
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Sim, ‘Superintending the parks by Henry Moore’, pp. 128–9.
The Western Champion, 3 May 1930, 17; Townsville Daily Bulletin, 19 February 1947, 2.
http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/documents/Biosecurity_EnvironmentalPests/IPA-Cocos-Queen-Palm-PP73.pdf.
For street tree vandalism in Brisbane, see Brisbane Courier, 5 September 1922, 6; Courier-Mail, 11 October 1933, 11; 30 April 1934, 12; 12 September 1935, 3; 3 December 1937, 16; and 30 September 1941, 4.
Townsville Daily Bulletin, 8 January 1947, 3; Cairns Post, 23 March 1933, 4.
Item 2192/1932 re: damage to street trees by livestock, in ‘ Proceedings, 1932–33’, 30, BCCA; Cairns Post, 1 October 1924, 4.
Brisbane Courier, 24 December 1930, 5; Courier-Mail, 29 May 1940, 10; Townsville Daily Bulletin, 8 January 1947, 3.
For more details, see Ken Inglis, Sacred places: War memorials in the Australian landscape (Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing, 2008).
Gee, Redcliffe, p. 194; Brisbane Courier, 7 August 1923, 7; Nundah and Districts Historical Society Inc., Historical appraisal Kalinga Greenspaces (Brisbane: Brisbane City Council, 1999), p. 26.
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Courier-Mail, 12 September 1949, 5; Tennyson Memorial Avenue, Monument Australia, http://monumentaustralia.org.au; BCC, Natural Environment and Sustainability Branch, Avenues of Honour research report, p. 42.
BCC, Natural Environment and Sustainability Branch, Avenues of Honour research report, p. 5.
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Brisbane Courier, 18 March 1922, 17; Ann Ross, Beerburrum Anzac Avenue of Memorial Trees (Glass House Mountains: Glass House Country RSL Sub-Branch Inc., 2010).
BCC, Natural Environment and Sustainability Branch, Avenues of Honour research report, pp. 5, 20 and 37.
Anzac Square, Brisbane, Entry No. 600062, QHR p. 2; Bruce Sinclair, Toowong Memorial Park (Brisbane: Toowong and District Historical Society, 2011), p. 1.
Brisbane Courier, 23 December 1926, 11; for additional details, see Merv Ewart and Pat Fairhall, The story of Anzac Memorial Avenue (Strathpine: Pine Rivers Shire Council, 1993) and Gee, Redcliffe, pp. 194–6.
Berenis Alcorn, ‘The cultural landscape engineers: Humans and environment in the Maroochy district, 1850–1950’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland (2008), pp. 266–7.
BCC, Natural Environment and Sustainability Branch, Avenues of Honour research report, pp. 7 and 10.
Yeppoon War Memorial, Entry No. 602126, p. 2, QHR; Graceville Memorial Park, Monument Australia, http://monumentaustralia.org.au; Nundah and Districts Historical Society Inc., Historical appraisal Kalinga Greenspaces, p. 26.
Sinclair, Toowong Memorial Park, p. 1; Ross, Beerburrum Anzac Avenue of memorial trees, p. 13.
Courier-Mail, 24 July 1948, 3 and 12 September 1949, 5; Eumundi War Memorial Drive, Entry No. 601122, 3 and Roma War Memorial and Heroes Avenue, Entry No. 600824, p. 1, QHR; Alcorn, ‘The cultural landscape engineers’, p. 266.
Ross, Beerburrum Anzac Avenue of memorial trees, pp. 9 and 13; Anzac Memorial Avenue, Entry No. 602693, pp. 5–6, QHR.
BCC, Natural Environment and Sustainability Branch, Avenues of Honour Research Report, p. 42; Ross, Beerburrum Anzac Avenue of memorial trees, p. 23.
Eumundi War Memorial Drive, Entry No. 601122, p. 2, QHR.
Toowong Memorial Park, Entry No. 602459, p. 3 and Yeppoon War Memorial, Entry No. 602126, p. 2, QHR.
Gee, Redcliffe, p. 196.
Marion Diamond and Jean Smith, From bulldust to beef roads and beyond: Main Roads — the first fifty years (Brisbane: Main Roads Department, 199?), p. 16; Sean O’Keefe, ‘The great north coast road: The early development of the Bruce Highway and features of its cultural landscape’, in Professional Historian Association (Queensland) (ed.), Journeys through Queensland history: landscape, place and society (Brisbane: Professional Historian Association (Queensland), 2009), p. 61.
Brisbane Courier, 26 July 1934, 18; Kay Cohen, ‘Kemp, Sir John Robert (1883–1955)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 15 (Canberra: ANU, 2000), 1–2.
Queensland Commissioner of Main Roads, AR 1946–47, 13; Courier- Mail, 26 July 1934, 18; The Worker, 8 March 1933, 8.
Brisbane Courier, 24 June 1933, 8; Courier- Mail, 4 June 1936, 12; Arnold Lock, Tropical tapestry: from Capricorn to Cape York (Melbourne: Georgian House, 1956), p. 255.
Item 2937/1937–38 re: tree planting along Brisbane to Toowoomba Road, in ‘Proceedings BCC, 1937–38’, 1275, BCCA.
Queensland Commissioner of Main Roads, AR 1947–48, 15; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 11 December 1948, 1.
Queensland Commissioner of Main Roads, AR 1946–47, 13; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 31 January 1949, pp. 3 and 4 June 1951, 5.
Queensland Commissioner of Main Roads, ARs 1953–54, 6; 1956–57, 9; and 1957–58, 12; Central Queensland Herald, 10 June 1954, 31.
