In post 1920 below, David makes good points:

Plaques on trees need spacers or will become embedded. (We use springs as spacers)

No decay resulted after 30+ years.

Plaques on the ground are a problem.

What he didn't tell us is why the decision was made to remove the eye-level plaques and put them on the ground. With all the above info, that's hard to figure.

What his post tells me is that the feared injury to trees by doing simple things to/with them is often overblown.

I wish someone down there would make a precise count of the trees, analyze the screw wounds, take pictures, and send in an article to Journal of Arboriculture (David, see isa-arbor.org, and please consider doing it, for science' sake.)

That info would be good for people all over to see.

Reply to post by Guy, on May 21, 2002 at 07:08:09:

I didn't go into detail about the decision to remove the plaques as it was a difficult and involved decision with probably no right or wrong answer.

In short it was based on my estimate that their removal would cause minimal damage to the trees and the "importance" of the plaques to the community of Ballarat/Australia.

This "Avenue of Honour" in particular is unique in Australia due to its size (length and number of trees) and the plaques. It is listed on the Australian Register of the National Estate as being of very high historical and cultural importance.

Maintaining the original plaques in a readable state was considered as vital. This was not going to be possible leaving them attached to the trees. We regularly get people from all over the country searching for their relatives tree and plaque.

In relation to an ISA article I agree. I am collecting information (including photos) to do just that and have been for several years. I have been a member of the ISA for over 20 years. The article may well end up as several as the plaques is just one issue worth talking about. We embarked on a twenty year restoration program starting in 1998 and there are numerous interesting and technical issues arising.