Ballina First World War Memorial Grove

About

This war memorial consists of a number of large trees, located in the road reserve between Martin and Moon Streets in Ballina, NSW. The trees were planted in 1926 in honour of those who served in the First World War. Over time, some of these trees have been lost. Planning for the memorial began in mid-1925. The Northern Star, 17 July 1925, reported that a public meeting had been convened by Mayoress Mrs J. Torrens to consider planting a soldiers' memorial grove in the town. Mayor Alderman J. Torrens presided and it was moved that a Town Planning Association be formed to organise the project. Two committees were formed: one to plan for the plantings and the other to raise finance.  In March 1926, the Memorial Grove Committee decided council employees would prepare the plots and erect tree guards. They would also contact the Botanical Gardens to purchase the trees. The planting was set to coincide with Anzac Day, and schools and citizens would be invited to the function (Northern Star, 11 March 1926). On the afternoon of 26 April 1926, the official planting took place following a citizen's open air service for Anzac Day. The service included speeches from Mayor Alderman J. Barlow, Rev. John Enright (Presbyterian), the Rev. R.B. Len (Methodist), Ensign Clark (Salvation Army) and Mr. E. Cowley, Vice-president of the Ballina RSL sub-Branch. At the end of the service, the 'Last Post' was performed by Bugler Bennett and the trees were planted during an interval in proceedings.  Sixty-eight trees were planted altogether and took the form of a cross over Cherry and Crane Streets. Mrs Roberts planted a tree from the Ballina sub-Branch, in memory of all fallen comrades. At the opposite corner, Mayor Barlow planted a tree from the citizens of Ballina, dedicated to the memory of an unknown soldier. Following the planting, groups of people drove to the cemetery at East Ballina to lay wreaths on a number of graves (Northern Star, 26 April 1926).

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