Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue
How one man's grief for his son inspired Victoria's largest native memorial planting
By National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
This site is part of the traditional land of the Yorta Yorta people
Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
In Australia, those who served in war have often been commemorated by rows of trees, known as Avenues of Honour . The practice was popularised during and after World War I, particularly in the state of Victoria, where 472 Avenues were planted.
These living memorials are a poignant reminder of the devastating impact of war on families and communities, and a symbol of how grief can manifest within a community to ensure that those who lost their lives in the line of service are remembered.
Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
The Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue, on the Goulburn Valley Highway south of Shepparton, differs from many other memorial plantings as it was the response of a single person — grieving father, James Louis Fenton (Fen) Woodburn.
Australian eucalypt, Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
Fen lost his son Calder, who was serving abroad with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in World War II.
Number 1 Advanced Navigation School (1941) by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
Sergeant Calder Fenton Woodburn, a local farmer and graduate of Dookie Agricultural College, enlisted in the RAAF in 1940. In 1942, his aircraft and crew were lost when returning from a mine-laying mission along the coast of France.
Double row of native trees, Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
In 1943 Fen Woodburn offered to plant a double avenue of trees for 9.5km along the Goulburn Valley Highway, as a living memorial to his son and all local servicemen who served during World War II.
Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
Woodburn began planting in 1945, and by 1947 he had planted 1,406 trees to complete his original vision. Woodburn continued to make further plantings for another two years, and once complete, the Avenue included a total of 2,457 trees stretching 20km.
Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
Memorial name plates of those who did not return home from World War II were fixed to 110 of the trees, each at the nearest point to the respective servicemen's home.
Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
The Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue is one of the longest Avenues of Honour in Victoria, and the only planting to be completed by one person. It is also significant for its use of native Eucalypts. In contrast, most World War I memorial plantings used exotic species.
Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
Fen Woodburn was an advocate for the recognition of the Australian Eucalypt as a valuable tree species. Prior to the memorial planting, this stretch of road and the surrounding area had been heavily cleared to become a flat and treeless landscape.
Calder Woodburn Memorial by Digital Heritage Australia National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
The ambitious planting project undertaken by Woodburn is a tangible representation of an individual’s outpouring of grief.
Explore Calder Woodburn Memorial Avenue
Image Credits: Digital Heritage Australia
The National Trust Register of Significant Trees recognises individual trees, avenues and important stands as valuable community assets that must be preserved. Since 1982, more than 1.200 significant trees have been registered across Victoria. Read more at https://trusttrees.org.au/
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