New life for lone Gallipoli pine
From Around South Australia
With only four weeks until Anzac Day, the Transport Department has conceded defeat and carted away the dry brown wollemi pine it spent months trying to revive.
While arborists and botanists had pronounced the wollemi dead, officials had insisted there was life and hope.
Hope ran out last week and the new sapling, a Pinus halepensis sent from Canberra, was planted last Friday.
More pavers have been removed from the base to further reduce the reflective heat that cooked the wollemi.
Although the wollemi was not the same species as the Lone Pine at Gallipoli, it originally was chosen for its potential to become a significant monument at the intersection.
The plaque underneath the new tree, however, still says it was planted in August by Transport Minister Patrick Conlon, Veterans' Affairs Minister Michael Atkinson and Veterans' Affairs Council chairman Sir Eric Neal.
Those names are not expected to be replaced with the names of the subcontractors who performed Friday's switch.
This week, they were at the scene, checking on the welfare of the new sapling.
They said they would be keeping a close eye on it for some months.
