Know Your Place #10 Memorial Park Ivanhoe

In 1909 local citizens became concerned about the fate of some large, ancient gum trees in Studley Road on the subdivision called the Hillsley Estate.

These trees were thought to be 300 to 400 years old.

A " Save the Tree" League was formed at a meeting in the Marshall Street home of a Mr. Woolf.

The Heidelberg Council rebuffed an approach that it should purchase the land on which the large, prominent trees stood.

The group set about fundraising and taking public subscriptions to buy the land on which the trees stood.

Their fundraising was successful in garnering the necessary £100 but unfortunately the vendor sought to include more land - at a higher price - in the deal.

The indignant fundraisers withdrew their interest, and refunded subscriptions.

Three anonymous local ladies then stepped in and provided the necessary money - the full £100!

The land was then put into the trust of the Heidelberg Council, to be held as public land "while the trees lived".

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War Memorial Erected and Dedicated

Age (Melbourne), 16 May 1922

"Over 2000 people assembled at the council reserve, near the junction of Heidelberg and Studloy roads, on Sunday afternoon to witness the unveiling of the lvanhoe soldiers' memorial.

Cr. F. S. Bryant, chairman of the committee, said that out of 180 lvanhoe men who enlisted 40 made the supreme sacrifice.

There were 800 enlistments in the shire, which was a record in any municipality in proportion to population.

Brigadier-General J. K. Forsyth, who performed the unveiling ceremony, said that those who went to the war had visions of fighting for righteousness throughout the world; they believed that sectarianism and all impurities in political, commercial and domestic lives might be banished. If we were to complete their work we must adhere to those splendid impulses which came to be men who went to thee war.

The memorial, which is of granite, cost over £600. On the side facing the street are the names of the fallen soldiers, and on the back are the names of those who enlisted.

Rev. S. Buckley** said the prayers, and Mr. Ponsford sounded the Last Post. The Strollers sang Thy Long Day Closes, and hymns were sung by the crowd. ‌

**Rev. Sydney Buckley was the parish priest at St James, and became Founding Headmaster of Ivanhoe Grammar School.

The school was based inside the parish hall. Less than twenty students constituted the initial enrolment in 1915 but by the end of 1919 enrolments had doubled, sparking a need to relocate. The expansion was made possible by the generosity of the School and Church community when Ivanhoe House was purchased from parishioners Mr and Mrs Horace Wilcox, and the school was renamed Ivanhoe Grammar School.