Carlene Beaumont, City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali, Jan Sinclair, John Pettigrew, Greater Shepparton City Council team leader strategic planning Jen Brewis and Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority’s Allison McCallum. Photo: Lingy Harhangi
Australia’s longest eucalypt memorial avenue has received an upgrade.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The nameplates on 54 trees along the Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue were replaced on December 13, 2024.
The memorial avenue is Australia’s longest eucalypt memorial avenue at almost 20km long, and commemorates fallen servicemen from Shepparton and surrounding areas from World War II.
The landmark features double-row, equally spaced trees on each side of the Goulburn Valley Hwy from Seven Creeks to the Murchison-Violet Town Rd.
The Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue features over 2400 native trees.
Photo by
Contributed
Greater Shepparton City Council and the Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue Advisory Committee received a grant from the Victorian Government in June 2023 under its Restoring Community War Memorials and Avenues of Honour Grant Program.
The grant enabled the identification, replacement and installation of nameplates for 54 fallen Goulburn Valley servicemen from World War II.
Investigations into replacement of the nameplates found that quite a number of them had been removed, vandalised or embedded into the trunks of their respective trees.
The new nameplates were installed by a surveillance manager from the Department of Transport and Planning, along with council staff and contractors.
One of the old nameplates at the Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue. Photo: Jan Braham
One of the new nameplates at the Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue. Photo: Lingy Harhangi
City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali congratulated everyone involved in restoring the nameplates and bringing the significant piece of history back to life.
“The Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue Advisory Committee is made up of key stakeholders including the Shepparton RSL, Department of Transport and Planning, Greater Shepparton Heritage Advisory Committee, Strathbogie Shire Council and Heritage Victoria, who have all actively supported the project,” he said.
“Each member agency has contributed greatly to the project and their efforts have ensured that this restoration was possible.”
Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue Advisory Committee member Cr Paul Wickham said conservation works such as this one were needed to ensure the integrity of the memorial was maintained.
“This is an important piece of history which recognises the thousands of servicemen from World War II who came from our region,” he said.
“The replacement of the nameplates was a team effort and a great step in ensuring the memorial is managed and maintained.”
The initial installation of nameplates and tree plantings were completed by James Woodburn between 1946 and 1949, to honour fallen soldiers after the death of his son Calder Woodburn, who was lost along with his crew while returning from a night mission flight over the coast of France in 1942.
The Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue is next to the Calder Woodburn Rest Area, about 20km south of Shepparton.
14°C