A 1932 view of the arch at the beginning of Ballarat’s Avenue of Honour.
The completed Avenue was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1920, and was much imitated in towns throughout the state of Victoria, and by several interstate towns.
In the late chapters of A Distant Prospect, Phoebe recounts her eye-opening visit to her father’s hometown:
We rode in the carriage out of the town, through an enormous arch and down a very wide avenue. There were trees growing on either side. It turned out that each of the trees – and there are thousands of them – represent a boy from the town who served in the War. Grandfather showed Dad the tree he planted for him. It’s an elm and it has a plaque with “Roderick John Raye Trooper 13th Lighthorse” on it. Grandfather’s been helping to look after that tree ever since it was planted ten years ago.
This living monument to the memory of Ballarat’s young volunteer soldiers still provides a poignant reminder of their sacrifice, and a most attractive approach to the city.
