Spare a thought for all of Canberra's trees. Many are years old. On this day 56 years ago, it was reported that vandals destroyed 35 blue gums along Anzac Parade.
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Twenty-three trees were chopped down with an axe. The other 12 were pulled out or broken.
The axed trees were 10-feet tall and each slender trunk gave way to a single blow. The others, about two-feet tall, were torn up by the roots.
The gum trees formed part of an Anzac landscape with Australian trees planted in rows behind concrete boxes holding New Zealand shrubs. Anzac Parade, a ceremonial way, was officially opened on Anzac Day, 1965.
MP for ACT Jim Fraser described the vandalism as a particularly stupid act and hoped that those who did would be caught and punished.
They had destroyed a national memorial, he said.
"A turn in the army would not do them any harm," he said.
"A good kick in the backside would do them the world of good".
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said a destruction of the trees might make it difficult to keep uniformity in the Anzac Parade plantations.
