Planting Trees for The Queen’s Jubilee

Many of our Ballarat Girl Guides had the pleasure of participating in the ‘Planting Trees for The Queen’s Jubilee’ program, an initiative of the Australian Government.  This significant activity was one of hundreds of community-based tree planting events held across the country to mark 70 years of service by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

This unique program was funded by the Australian Government with objectives to increase community awareness of the Platinum Jubilee, create a nation-wide legacy of tree plantings and increase the area of tree canopy.  Similar initiatives took place in other Commonwealth countries to mark The Queen’s Jubilee.

Her Majesty reached the Platinum Jubilee milestone in June of 2022.  However, our original plans were thwarted by conditions of sodden soil, a severe storm warning, and a total fire ban; all would have compromised the safety of our youth members and so resulted in events being  postponed.

Although Her Majesty sadly passed away on September 8, 2022, the Government program proceeded as planned as a tribute to The Queen and her remarkable 70 years of service as Australia’s Head of State.

Our local Guides equipped themselves with gardening gloves and trowels and eagerly dug 200 holes at our Lingbogol campsite to accommodate a variety of native trees, including gum trees, wattle trees, banksias, grevilias, and swamp gums, which were carefully selected for a boggy patch of land.  Plant guards were erected, the trees were watered and the area was covered with mulch.

Thank you to event organiser Margaret Littlehales, the adult volunteers who helped dig holes and provide planting instruction, and to the parents who assisted with the mulch at the end of the event.