Shrine Reserve

Consisting of 13 hectares of memorial parkland, the Shrine Reserve was conceived as a fundamental component of the Shrine of Remembrance. Over 120 smaller commemorative ceremonies are conducted in the Shrine Reserve every year. These usually centre on a tree associated with a unit or association.

RemembranceTrees

On the twentieth anniversary of the First World War, the first 100 memorial trees were planted on the Reserve, commemorating units who served in the war. The Reserve was divided into sections dedicated to the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Allied Forces and to different conflicts. Within these sections, memorial trees were planted to commemorate those units of the respective branches who fought in conflicts for Australia.

While substantial numbers of trees were specifi cally planted… service units could also apply to the Shrine Trustees for permission to place memorial plaques on existing trees. The trees were often used as the focus for commemoration ceremonies.

Conservation Management Plan, Allom Lovell & Associates with John Patrick, 2001

All the memorial trees were intended originally to be Australian natives until it was decided to commemorate countries of the Commonwealth in the Reserve by planting a tree native to their homeland. Planting of memorial trees in the Shrine Reserve continues today. Many older memorial trees on the Reserve are replaced and re-dedicated.

Read more about Remembrance Trees
 

Lone Pine

The original Lone Pine stood on a high ridge above Gallipoli, Turkey and became a landmark for the troops fighting in the battle at Gallipoli during the First World War.

It was eventually destroyed but a soldier collected and sent home a pine cone from the tree. Seeds from the cone were germinated and eventually a young tree from those seeds was planted at the Shrine of Remembrance.

Legacy Garden of Appreciation

Following a recommendation in 1975 by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Ronald Walker, it was decided to establish a memorial garden on the grounds of the Shrine on the eastern side of the memorial. The Trustees chose Flanders poppies to form the central feature of the new garden, and the State Government pledged $5,000 towards the cost. Named the Garden of Memory in 1978, it was re-dedicated as the Legacy Garden of Appreciation in 1986. The sculpture, Widow and Children by sculptor Louis Laumen, was commissioned in 1998 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Legacy.

The Garden symbolises the generosity of Victorians who support Legacy's work of assisting the widows and families of deceased veterans. In late spring the red Flanders poppies planted in the Garden bloom in full colour. The seeds for these poppies were brought from Villers-Bretonneux in France.

Women's Garden and Memorial Cairn

The Ex-Servicewomen’s Memorial Cairn ‘In memory of the 70,000 Australian Ex-Servicewomen from the Boer War through to 1985’ was moved from the King’s Domain to the Shrine Reserve in 2010. The Council of Ex-Servicewomen’s Associations (Vic), The Shrine Trustees in partnership with Citywide and the City of Melbourne have developed a ‘garden of flowers’ concept design in order to appropriately integrate the Cairns into the Shrine Reserve.

Inspired by the women’s forgotten flower of remembrance – the violet, Landscape Architect Katherine Rekaris has augmented the Cairn with a garden of concrete memorial ‘violets’ (Viola hederacea), Dianella (Dianella ‘Cassa Blue’) and Ipheion (Ipheion uniflorum). The garden is situated in a newly planted grove of Jacarandas and incorporates an Australian native hardwood bench which has been donated for the garden by the Council of Ex-Servicewomen’s Associations (Vic).

Gallipoli Memorial

The well-known bronze sculpture of The man with the donkey shows a soldier from the Medical Corps transporting a wounded colleague to a casualty hospital. True to the practice of not identifying individual's acts of heroism, the memorial is simply dedicated to the valour and compassion of the Australian soldier. The model for the sculpture was John Simpson Kirkpatrick and his two donkeys, Duffy 1 and Duffy 2. Simpson was killed on active service with the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance on 19 May 1915. He was 22 years old.

Read more about The man with the donkey

Driver and Wipers 

These imposing sculptures, on loan from the National Gallery of Victoria, were transferred from the forecourt of the State Library of Victoria to the Shrine Reserve in April 1998.

The sculptures, by Charles Sargeant Jagger, are replicas of Jagger's original bronze sculptures, the Driver from the Royal Artillery Memorial in Cheshire.

‘Wipers’ is the English translation of Ypres, the battlefields of France which claimed the lives of thousands of Australians during the First World War.

Purple Cross Horse Trough

Relocated to the Shrine Reserve in 1986 this memorial horse trough serves

… as a focal point for members of the Light Horse Brigade and recognises the services and suffering of animals in war.

Conservation Management Plan, Allom Lovell & Associates with John Patrick, 2001

The inscription reads:

He gains no crosses as a soldier may, no medals for the many risks he runds, he only in his puzzled, patient way, sticks to his guns.

Cobbers

Cobbers, the memorial to Australian service and sacrifice at the Battle of Fromelles 19 July 1916, was installed in the Australian Memorial Park at Fromelles, France in 1998. The bronze cast located on the Shrine Reserve is the second cast of the sculpture by Peter Corlett.

Read more about Cobbers