Authorities have been left scratching their heads after a Lone Pine seedling was stolen from the Longford Cenotaph, just five days before Anzac Day.
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The tree is believed to have been taken on Tuesday evening, having been planted in a service on Friday and surrounded by a metal cage.
Northern Midlands mayor David Downie said he did not believe the thief could have known the significance of the tree.
“It was obviously vandalism but we're hoping that someone may uncover where the tree’s gone and we may be able to retrieve it.”
The Lone Pine is a symbol of the 2000 Australians who fought and died in the Battle of Lone Pine in Gallipoli, 1915.
Parliamentary secretary Guy Barnett said the tree was raised by Rose Bay High School students at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Garden as part of a project to disseminate Lone Pines ahead of Anzac Day.
The seedling was grown from seeds harvested from a Lone Pine tree planted at the Cornelian Bay War Cemetery, which itself was grown from a seed collected from the Lone Pine at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra – a direct link to the battlefield at Lone Pine in Gallipoli.
“Certainly for veterans, they'll be very saddened by what's occurred here and deeply upset, I'd imagine,” Mr Barnett said.
Cr Downie said the council dealt with vandalism from time to time but not with such historically significant tree before.
He urged anyone who knew of the seedling’s whereabouts to come forward, as it was to be a significant addition to the council’s war memorial.
“We have a lot of Anzac services that are well attended throughout our municipality and there's a lot of younger people now attending Anzac services – the services are growing in interest.”
He said the council would be placing a CCTV camera at the memorial if the tree was returned.
Mr Barnett said if the tree was not returned he’d make arrangements to find a replacement Lone Pine, accompanied by a commemorative plaque.