Queen Elizabeth II commemorated with tree planting at Unity College
A row of trees at a Murray Bridge school will help generations of students remember the late monarch and her platinum jubilee.
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The late Queen Elizabeth II will be long remembered at Unity College.
A row of trees has been planted beside the oval at the Murray Bridge college’s junior campus to commemorate her platinum jubilee.
Federal MP Tony Pasin said a national tree-planting program had been conceived as a suitable way of honouring the monarch, who planted many a tree during her first visit to Australia in 1954.
Unity College applied for and received more than $14,000 for the purpose.
Mr Pasin unveiled a plaque beneath one of the trees on Monday morning.
“When Her Majesty visited Australia in ‘54, she visited thousands of towns, and invariably, because people wanted to remember her stay … often trees were planted,” he said.
“So we wanted to complete the circle 70 years later.”
The queen had performed her duties dutifully, respectfully and well for all those years, he said – “a life well lived”.
College business manager Michael Obst said a nature play area would be built near the trees over the summer.
In the longer term, the college hopes to establish an early learning centre nearby, too.
