Instilling A Tree Conscience... Subiaco Arbor Day 1937.
One of the things I love about walking the streets of Subiaco are the diverse types of established trees planted along the verges and in public spaces such as parks and gardens.
The Western Australian community including children and the Education Department have a long tradition with celebrating Arbor Day and fostering a love of and caring for trees and preventing the destruction of the environment.
On Arbor Day in Subiaco in 1937 children from the Subiaco State School and members of the community planted a significant number of trees along the Bagot Road-Reserve. In an article in The Daily News, 3 August reported about the good work being done by the Subiaco State School to ‘instil a love of trees among children.’ The article ‘The Love Of Trees’ and others are copied below and are from Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia. No copyright infringement intended.
West Australian, 10 July 1937,
IN THE SCHOOLS SPECIAL BROADCAST.
The Virtues of a Tree.
In schools all over the State the children assembled at 11 o'clock to listen to and take part in, a special broadcast from the national stations lasting half an hour. The programme was arranged and directed by the Superintendent of Music in State Schools (Mr. O. G. Camp bell Egan), with whom at Broadcasting House were a choir of boys and girls from the Victoria Park school, conducted by Mr. A. J. Culligan; also the Acting Director of Education (Mr. C. Hadley), the Conservator of Forests (Mr. S. L, Kessell) and the president of the Tree Planters' Association (Mr. J. Martin), each of whom gave a short address.
The children's active participation took the form of repeating the lines of appropriate verses and pieces of prose as they came over the air from Mr. Campbell Egan, descriptive of trees, their beauty and usefulness; and also, in some cases, of joining in a cheerful song called "Under the Greenwood Tree," sweetly and animatedly sung by the choir in the studio. Mr. Hadley told the children that the purpose of Arbor Day was, first, to make them all tree lovers. He spoke to them of the ancient Greeks' belief in tree spirits, and the English poets' delight in trees. They were taking part also in a worldwide movement which aimed at correcting the mistakes made by our forefathers in the destruction of trees. Almost too late we found that unless new trees were planted to replace those that had been destroyed there would be in a short time too little timber for the use of man. Besides, the land was not now so productive, owing to the want of shelter given by trees. Mr. Hadley also spoke of trees as beautifiers in both country and city.
Taking "Forests" as his theme, Mr. Hessell said it had been asserted that next to the earth itself, the forest was the most useful servant of man. Unfortunately many Australians still thought of it as a collection of trees occupying land which might be employed more use fully growing crops. How many of his listeners had ever thought of a forest as the most wonderful crop of all?
Mr. Kessell went on to describe forest life, the many uses for West Australian timber in the community's life, the benefits conferred by trees, the danger to forests from fire. "When the school children of today grow up and become the citizens of tomorrow," he said, "I hope that they will search the surrounding comuntryside for trees and shrubs to beautify their streets and gardens, in stead of favouring importations from other countries, which, in many in stances, have not half the beauty or merits of much of our native flora."
Speaking from the gardener's point of view, Mr. Martin began with the well known lines of Joyce Kilmer: "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree." All true gardeners, he told the children, regarded trees as being as lovely as poems. The gardener used trees and other plants as the artist used paints, to create a living picture. As a final word Mr. Campbell Egan quoted the following lines by Lowell, the American poet: Who does his duty be a question Too complex to be solved by me. But he-I venture the suggestion Does part of his that plants a tree.
Records were played, also, of Miss Essie Ackland singing "God's Garden" and Mr. John Brownlee singing "Trees."...
Subiaco - After the assembled children at the Thomas-street State school had followed the broadcast, a tree for each of the 11 classes was planted by two boys and two girls from the classes, in a row connecting the main school building with the carpentering shed, about half a chain from the path. West Australian varieties were planted. Trees donated by the Subiaco Municipal Council were planted in the Bagot-road Reserve by a boy from each class in the Subiaco State school, Bagot-road, the trees being dedicated to the respective classes for continuous care
in the years to come. In the school play ground, trees and shrubs were planted by the Mayor and Mayoress (Mr. and Mrs. W. Richardson), all councillors, Mrs. Cardell-Oliver, ML.A., and members of the school staff; while two rose bushes were planted by the ex-Mayor and ex Mayoress (Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Downe) beside the gates which they presented last year. The football premiership cup was presented by the Mayor to the cap tain of the team, and Mrs. Oliver pre sented a shield for athletic achievements. There was a large attendance of parents...”
West Australian, 3 August 1937.
LOVE OF TREES. PROMOTION OF ARBOR DAY.
Association's Work Reviewed.
Recent activities of the Tree Planters' Association, particularly relating to Arbor Day, were reviewed yesterday by the president (Mr. J. Martin, F.R.H.S.). The association, said Mr. Martin, was responsible for the gazettal of Arbor Day, and, with the assistance of the Education Department, was able to ensure that nearly every State school in Western Australia celebrated the occasion, response having been inspired as far afield as Broome, Kalgoorlie and Albany. These results were most gratifying to the association. No definite information was available, but it was estimated that nearly 10,000 trees had been planted in connection with Arbor Day this year by the State schools, local authorities and other institutions. The estimate was derived from information given by nurserymen of their sales for the purpose and by road boards of transfers from their nurseries. Arbor Day had been provided for under the Forestry Act some years ago, but had never been gazetted until this year, when that action was taken as a result of the association's initiative. In the year during which the association had existed, Mr. Martin Proceeded, it had printed and circulated a booklet dealing with types of trees suitable for various purposes, such as parks, reserves, streets, avenues and boulevardes, and their adaptability to the varying climatic conditions in the different parts of the State.
The city of Perth, said Mr. Martin, had held Arbor Day functions in various wards, where councillors and their wives, other prominent men, and members of the association and their wives planted trees. An inscribed miniature shovel had been presented by the council to each of the women as a memento of the occasion. The City of Fremantle planted 400 trees. In Sublaco a large number of trees, shrubs, and roses had been planted at the Bagot-road State school by leading residents in the presence of between 600 and 700 children, in the hope of impressing on the children a love of trees. Some of the trees had been provided by the Subiaco Municipal Council, together with a number of trees and palms to be planted every year in the Bagot-road reserve adjacent to the school, and to be tended from year to year by the various classes.
Saving Shade and Timber.
Mr. Martin explained that the objects of the association were to promote love of trees among members of the public in order to prevent further unnecessary destruction of vegetation and to encourage replanting to make good the wastage caused by development of building areas and clearing for agriculture and roads. In view of the threatened world shortage in timber, this was considered necessary. It was desired to encourage farmers and others in the country to realise the need to preserve as much timber as possible, both along the roadsides and around the farms to prevent soil erosion by wind, and to provide shade for themselves and their livestock. In America, millions of acres of fertile land had become ruined by erosion, and millions of trees now had to be planted to check this wastage. Another objective was to spread the planting of trees for beautification and health purposes. His opinion was that trees should be planted wherever possible in the cities where there was room for their heads to spread in order to keep the air pure, particularly in congested areas where large numbers of internal combustion engines were continually fouling the air with their exhaust gases. Efforts by some country road boards to stop the alienation of surveyed but unmade roads were commended by Mr. Martin, who claimed that this policy had been brought about largely by the activities of the association. Farmers adjoining these roads, he said. had been in the habit of encroaching on the unmade roads and clearing the timber there. Several road boards were now aware of this practice and had taken steps to stop it. His association welcomed the policy adopted recently by the Mingenew Road Board of ensuring that, when new roads were being Provided, the strip to be cleared for traffic would be along one side of the gazetted road, and not, as was customary, in the centre. Under the new policy, along one side of the roadway would be a strip of cleared land six feet wide for the future erection of poles and wires, but on the other side at least half a chain in width would be left untouched and the natural vegetation allowed to flourish for all time.
The association, added Mr. Martin, wished publicly to thank the local authorities which had been active in celebrating Arbor Day, and the Press, particularly "The West Australian," for having familiarised the public with the association's work.
Daily News, 3 August 1937.
Tuesday, August 3, 1937.
Love Of Trees
There has been a gratifying response to the efforts of the Tree' Planters' Association to promote tree-planting and the love of trees among the West Australian people. It was, to a large extent, to be expected; for most people love trees just as they love gardens. It has, however, been a passive affection; that is to say, it has too seldom been translated into the active work of planting trees and studying the different types. Many who have a full appreciation of the technicalities of gardens, and find no difficulty in naming scores of different kinds of flowers, are hard put to it to name the common varieties of eucalypts which adorn our parks and streets.
The association has printed and circulated a booklet dealing with types of trees suitable for various purposes, such as parks, reserves, streets, avenues and boulevardes, and their adaptability to the varying climatic conditions in various parts of the State. This is a good move, but the association, could go further. We would like to see tablets bearing names and few detials attached to trees in the streets and parks. The Supreme Court gardens present a case in point. They contain many handsome and unusual trees which are either unnamed or bear tawdry and incomplete inscriptions. At the South Perth Zoo, too, more could be done with regard to classifying and naming the trees. Many people are unable to identify even the common ones. There are other reserves which call for similar action.
Arbor Day was celebrated at nearly every State school in Western Australia. At the Bagot-road State school, Subiaco, especially good work has been done towards inculcating the love and knowledge of trees among children. It is to be hoped that before Arbor Day next year there will be further developments along these lines, especially at the public schools, which on the whole have lagged behind in this work.
