The avenue of trees

Here’s a song by Steve Messer about Australia’s war memorials.

Heading out of Ballarat towards the western plains
The tall white arch behind me, ahead the dual lane
On both sides of the highway, stripped bare by winter’s breeze
Ten miles of sad reminders, the avenue of trees

I’d never thought about it, can’t say what changed my mind
I must have driven through there about a hundred times
But this day it all connected, I begged a moment’s silence please
Ten miles of fallen heroes, the avenue of trees

Greater love has no man than he lay his life down
In order that another could go free
Brave men marched to war from cities and from country towns
Some made it home, some died alone
Who knows their agony?
And so there stands the avenue of trees 

There are statues in the main-streets boards up on the walls
Hand-carved with golden letters in every country hall
And if you see a cross there, it’s for brave men such as these
That just outside of Ballarat, there’s an avenue of trees

I spent an hour alone inside a memorial hall
I stopped before a photo of a boy who heard the call
The inscription underneath said he was born in ‘twenty-three
That’s way before my time; he’s still a younger man than me

The One who lives forever, the One who knows each name
Came and lived among us and died alone in shame
And cruel men stood and mocked Him in the act that brought release
Did they know their scorn was poured on the one who made the trees?

Greater love has no man than He lay His life down
In order that the whole world could go free
Jesus left His throne, and tangled thorns became His crown
So far from home, He died alone
Who knows His agony?
When they hung Him in the avenue of trees 

Greater love has no man, when they hung Him in the avenue of trees

Acknowledgement

This article is based on one from The Daily Declaration.

Posted, April 2026