Darfield companion for Chch Gallipoli oak

Press, 29 May 1982, Page 7

Darfield companion for Chch Gallipoli oak

By

DERRICK ROONEY

The Gallipoli oak. the well known Christchurch tree marked by a plaque on the bank of the Avon River, near the Bridge of Remembrance, is about to have a companion — some 48 kilometres away. A seedling from the Christchurch tree, raised by the late Mr Douglas Dean's, will be planted at the Darfield War Memorial in a ceremony which will start at 10 a.m. on June 9, Arbor Day. This will fulfil a wish of Mr Deans, who sent home from Gallipoli, where he and his brother were stationed after the Armistice in 1918, the seed from which the original tree was grown. The brothers, Douglas and Colin Deans, were soldiers in . the Canterbury Mounted Rifles in the Gallipoli campaign. After the Armistice - was signed their task was to police it. Their duties included searching the southern part of the Gallipoli Peninsula, on horseback, for hidden Turkish arms and ammunition dumps. In their off-duty time they spent many hours riding across the countryside, looking for the graves of comrades. While out on one of these forays, Colin Deans picked up four big acorns on Hill 60. He took them back to the camp, and gave them to his brother Douglas, who sent them home to another brother, James, at Homebush, near Darfield. . All four seeds grew. The Christchurch Gallipoli oak was planted on the Avon riverbank near the Bridge of Remembrance, on August 4, 1924 — the tenth anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. It has grown into a large tree. A plaque at its base records that it was planted as a memorial to the men who fought and fell in the' Gallipoli campaign. Another of the oaks was sent to Hastings to be planted at the home of Sir Andrew Russell, who commanded the Anzac forces during the Gallipoli evacuation. The remaining two were planted at Homebush and Rowallan. properties owned by members of the Deans family. One man who hopes to be at the ceremony when the new Gallipoli oak is planted in Darfield is another of the Deans brothers. Mr William Deans, aged 92, who is a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign. He expects to be the only Gallipoli veteran at the ceremony, and certainly the only one who was also at the ceremony associated with the planting of the Avon River oak in 1924. Mr William Deans was machine-gunned on landing at Gallipoli and subsequently had a leg amputated. “I got a machine-gun — or. rather, a machine-gun got me— on the first night of our landing at Sedd-el-Bahr," he said yesterday. “I was leading my troop and we made our first rush up the beach and lay down. When we got up to move again I was shot at once.

"The sad part is that while I was only wounded, a German officer killed my two sergeants.”

Mr Deans, in spite of his loss of a leg. is fit and active for his age, and still cares for his big garden, full of interesting trees and shrubs. He believes he is one of only two survivors of the troop he led into action at Gallipoli.

The other. Trooper Harry Ingram, formerly of Darfield. is now 97 and. according to Mr Deans, is in hospital at Oxford and no longer able to move about.

In the garden at Sandown. the properly now farmed by his son. Mr Deans planted a seedling from the Homebush "Gallipoli tree." He says it has grown into a fine specimen. about 13 metres high, and is "full of acorns."

All four original trees are still alive and well, and have grown into big specimens. Mr Douglas Deans is reported to have commented, shortly before his death, that the Avon tree is the biggest and best.