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Grenville Avenue of Honour

Other Names

GRENVILLE AVENUE OF HONOUR , MEMORIAL SEATS

Location

BUNINYONG-MT MERCER ROAD GRENVILLE, Golden Plains Shire

File Number

Original Hermes No: 12996

Level

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Statement of Significance

The Avenue of Honour at Grenville is an avenue of Dutch elms on either side of the Buninyong-Mount Mercer Road. Grenville was named by 1867 after a new goldmine operated by the South Grenville Company located there. It became the centre of a rich grazing area but by the end of the 20th century much of the infrastructure of the township had been removed, with the school being relocated to a private individual's property and the Union church relocated to Sovereign Hill.

In 1916 Fernside (later called Grenville) State School had raised 156 pounds for the war effort. A public meeting in 1917 decided to plant an avenue of honour between two local properties, 'Fairlie' and 'Penrose'. When the war ended the committee decided to erect a memorial entrance to the avenue. In October 1919 George Turner wrote to the Shire Engineer, C.C.P. Wilson, saying that they had decided to erect it per the plans submitted by a Mr. Smith (probably H.H. Smith, Head of the Art School at the School of Mines Ballarat) who designed a number of war memorials, including the Arch of Victory in Ballarat. The form work was constructed in Ballarat by Wardle and Sons and Durham Lead contractor Andrew Wylie completed the work during 1920, with the locals labouring and supplying the sand and gravel.

The avenue originally consisted of 44 Dutch elms, of which 34 survive in poor condition. Each tree has a numbered plaque. Two Memorial Seats are placed at the southern end of the avenue so as to form a gateway to the avenue. They are constructed of concrete in the form of a concrete bench with two embossed copper panels set in a pillar at one end. On the eastern seat, an explanatory panel reads: "This Avenue was Planted in 1917 in Honor of the Men of this District Who Served the Empire in 1914-1919." On the western seat, the explanatory panel reads "These Tablets and Seats were Erected in 1920 to the Memory of those who Fought for Liberty and Justice in 1914-1919." A second panel on each seat lists the tree numbers for the elms on that side of the road with the names of the soldiers that each elm commemorates.

The Avenue of Honour, Grenville, with its Memorial Seats, is of historical significance at a local level, since it commemorates former local residents who served in World War I. Like the avenue at Eurack (H2102), it commemorates those who served from a community which has largely disappeared.

Group

Monuments and Memorials