MEDIA RELEASE - Queen’s legacy continues to take root with latest leafy tribute
The towering legacy of Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth the Second received a fitting tribute today, with a majestic Port Jackson Fig tree planted adjacent to Cronulla Station officially dedicated to her memory.
The established fig, planted earlier this year as part of the ‘Planting Trees for the Queen’s Jubilee’ program, will now stand as a living tribute to the Queen’s incredible 70-year reign, greeting commuters as the pass through Cronulla Station each day.
Today’s dedication ceremony comes as the final stage in a year long tree planting program undertaken by Sutherland Shire Council to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a program which helped to instil a greater understanding of the significance of the Queen’s unequalled reign among some of the Sutherland Shire’s youngest residents.
Sutherland Shire Mayor, Councillor Carmelo Pesce, was joined by the Federal Member for Cook, The Hon. Scott Morrison, Deputy Mayor Carol Provan and Ward Councillor Leanne Farmer as well as staff and students from St Aloysius College and Cronulla High School today to formally dedicate the tree to the late Queen, and to unveil a plaque that will be installed alongside it.
Mayor Pesce said he was heartened to see local young people so readily engaged in celebrating Queen’s 70-year reign, ensuring that her legacy would live on throughout the Sutherland Shire.
“Last year Council undertook an extensive tree planting program to honour the late Queen Elizabeth through the ‘Planting Trees for the Queen’s Jubilee’ program, joining other communities from across the Commonwealth in planting living, lasting tributes to her incredible life of service,” Mayor Pesce said.
“Together with staff at Cronulla Public School, Cronulla South Public School, Cronulla High School and St Aloysius College, Council distributed more than 2,000 native saplings to students which they were then invited to take home and plant as their own touching tribute.
“I can’t wait to see these trees, along with other maturing native species we planted in school grounds, continue to thrive in coming years, leaving a lasting, leafy tribute to prompt people to reflect on the life of the late Queen and her enduring passion for the environment.
“I also wish to extend my sincere thanks to the Member for Cook, Scott Morrison, who as the then Prime Minister championed this program and was instrumental in ensuring that it could successfully take root throughout our community.”
Currently standing at around three metres tall, the Port Jackson Fig which now stands near the entrance at Cronulla Station may potentially grow up to a maximum height of approximately 20 metres, ensuring that a fittingly towering tribute will remain to the colossal legacy that Queen Elizabeth II leaves behind.