Page 357 - Week 01 - Thursday, 27 February 2014
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It was a great start but obviously for such an enormous project help was needed from other bodies. In order to get the project underway Mrs Davis employed the help of Lieutenant General Frank Berryman and Robert Anderson, who was the curator and chief botanist at the Sydney Botanic Gardens. Charles Moses, who was the general manager of the ABC at the time, was also involved.
In April 1952 the committee was formed and chaired by Charles Moses. The inaugural meeting was held in May 1952 with various other interested people invited to discuss the idea of a memorial driveway from Sydney to Canberra. After a year and a half of work the Premier of New South Wales, the Hon JJ Cahill, through a statement on the ABC in 1953, agreed to launch the project. The commonwealth was on board, with the federal minister for the interior, Mr Kent Hughes, making a statement.
Once the announcement was made a public appeal for donations was begun. People were asked to pay $20 to be able to plant a tree along the route. By far the most pertinent contributions to the Remembrance Driveway were the Queen and Prince Philip in February 1954. They each planted a London plane tree in the corner of Macquarie Place in Sydney were the Remembrance Driveway begins. I know Mr Smyth in a previous life had a lot to do with this event.
The Queen also planted a snow gum at the war memorial here in Canberra, which unfortunately did not survive a vandal attack in 1965. After the planting of the royal trees, the pace of planting increased to form the more familiar busy drive we all know today. The burst lasted until the end of the 1960s when enthusiasm waned a little bit and planting largely ceased. Luckily, in the early 1990s enthusiasm rebuilt and more planting occurred.
The road is a great example of the connection between the cities. It has meaning and substance and presents a lovely set of views and rest stops on the drive to and from Sydney. As it stands, the Remembrance Driveway Committee is looking to construct new formal rest stops in the near future. They include the Mark Donaldson VC rest area, the Keith Payne VC rest area, the Benjamin Roberts-Smith VC rest area and the Daniel Keighran VC rest area.
The existing rest stops on the Remembrance Driveway already promote safe driving amongst the New South Wales and ACT communities. Providing such tempting green and picturesque rest points encourages people to stop, revive and survive and creates a perfect space for kids to have a stretch and play on the long drive, which often epitomises the Australian family car trip.
The addition of these new four rest areas in the future will only add to the legacy of our service people past and present and provide additional opportunities for people to be safe and rested on the journey between Sydney and Canberra.
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