School students had a huge task ahead of them on Thursday morning, placing a poppy on each memorial plaque at each tree along Ballarat’s Avenue of Honour.
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There are 3,801 trees along the 22km stretch of road honouring the men and women who served the country during World War 1.
Phoenix College staff and students were organised in groups of four to clip poppies onto 3000 of the plaques along the avenue to the railway crossing at Burrumbeet.
While Ballarat Specialist School continues the job on Friday morning, covering 800 trees to complete the installation from the Memorial Overpass to the Memorial Cairn at Weatherboard.
Gardening Australia will be filming a segment of its show at the Memorial Overpass at Burrumbeet.
The exercise was previously completed for the Anzac Day centenary in 2015 with the same schools involved.
Haddon Lions Club member Christopher Rigg had the idea following the removal of poppies at the war memorial.
“I thought, why can’t we put those poppies along the Avenue of Honour?” he said.
The Lions Club approached the Arch of Victory/Avenue of Honour committee and with a great amount of effort and organisation the program came together.
Phoenix College became involved when the school principal came across the idea and thought it a great opportunity for students.
The program is running again ahead of Armistice Day on Sunday, November 11, which will be marked with a commemorative service at the Arch of Victory at 10am.
Mr Rigg said it was great to have people from all age groups involved in the activity, from school students to members of every Lions Club in the Ballarat area.
“It’s a massive exercise,” he said. “I feel the younger generations are getting more involved in these things.
“Without the soldiers doing what they did we wouldn’t be where we are today. Why shouldn’t we do something for them?”
Arch of Victory/Avenue of Honour committee president Bruce Price said it was important for the next generation to come to grips with what happened in the war.
“Of those 3800 people, one in five was killed, two in five were wounded, and that’s left the other two who had all sorts of other problems,” Mr Price said.
“That generation that went as volunteers not conscripts from Ballarat, we feel we have to honour them for what they did and that is what the avenue does and the students are going to gather a little bit about that.”
It has taken a whole community effort to pull off the task. Gold Bus Ballarat donated two coaches and drivers to transfer students along the avenue with Lions Club members escorting them.
Victoria Police Highway Patrol assisted with safety and traffic management, while City of Ballarat has put in place safety signs.
