Centenary of Western Australia
The foundation of the settlement at Swan River was commemorated with the felling of a tree in what is now Barrack Street in the City of Perth. One hundred years later, the Centenary of Western Australia was observed with a range of celebrations held throughout 1929, including tree planting rather than felling. Object #31 is a silver gardener’s trowel used on the occasion of a mass tree planting which took place in that year.
Kings Park Tree Planting
On a fine spring Sunday afternoon on September 29th, 1929, members of the State Centenary committee together with the Governor, Premier, Members of the State Cabinet, and other prominent citizens invited by the Kings Park Board took part in the planting of 100 Red Flowering Gums (Corymbia ficofolia) along the drive from the main gates, Fraser Avenue. As a memento of the occasion each participant was presented with an inscribed silver trowel. This was the trowel used at the tree planting by Alex McCallum, then Minister for Works.
The inscription reads – Western Australian Centenary 1929. With this trowel Hon A McCallum MLA Minister for Works planted tree no. A4, Kings Park Perth, 29th September 1929.
The trowel has survived but the story of the trees is not one of long lives lived well. Although intended as a tribute to the State Centenary, many of the young trees were affected by patch-canker disease and within a few short years had died.
By 1938, the decision was made to replace the remaining Red Flowering Gums with Lemon Scented Gums (Corymbia citriodora). Happily, these have survived and thrived and now form the magnificent avenue that greets visitors entering the park from Kings Park Road.
Other trowels from the collection
The silver gardener’s trowel JCPML00839/13 is one of of six trowels in the McCallum collection. The other five are mason’s trowels, each with their own story, and will be featured soon on the 50 objects blog.
The Governor and Premier were among the absentees on the day of the Centenary Tree Planting Ceremony at King’s Park. Captain Massey from the visiting HMAS Canberra deputized for the Governor.
Other known examples of these trowels can be seen at the Rockingham Museum (Sir James Mitchell B9), RWAHS Museum (Phoebe Holmes B19) and BGPA, King’s Park (six in total). Only a few are known to have remained with the families of the participants. A small booklet was presented to each of the participants, in addition to the commemorative plaque placed at the base of each of the trees.
The cost of these items was given as one of the reasons that there was insufficient funds available to the Board for the Peter Pan statue to be immediately installed in King’s Park in 1929.
Thank you Glenn,
The extra information you have provided is helpful. We had seen a post by the RWAHS about the trowel in that collection but were not aware of the others. Thank you for taking the time to post your comments.