Remembrance effort grows new branch

DELACOMBE man Jeff Smith had been adorning his front yard with Christmas decorations for about two decades, when last year he did something different.

With the passing of one friend’s fiance, and another’s teenage daughter leading into the holiday season, Mr Smith utilised his large bottlebrush as a memorial tree, placing baubles on the limbs to commemorate lost loved ones.

Starting last year with two weeks before Christmas, he’s continuing the initiative this year, this time putting up decorations and signage in mid-November.

The number of baubles have grown from about 10 last year to about 50, and Mr Smith said it’s giving people the opportunity to remember their loved ones during Christmas.

“It’s all about commemorating the people we’ve loved and lost at probably the hardest time of the year for everyone,” he said.

“Personally, there’s one up for my mum who died 27 years ago, one for my nan and pop, some of my housemate’s, and one for my daughter’s grandparent.”

Most of the memorial tree’s accompanying lights are blue or purple to signify commemoration.

Having come across Mr Smith’s Christmas tree initiative via social media, Canadian resident Sonia Crawford decorated her property’s blackwood tree around the same time as him after reaching out for permission.

Although joining the initiative this Christmas, she said the tree has long held a significance for her.

“My tree was actually planted by SIDS and Kids at Mount Blowhard Primary School for the loss of my baby 18 years ago,” she said.

“I’d go out there and decorate it with trinkets and one summer it was starting to die so I dug it up and planted it in my front yard. When it started to grow, I’d lost another baby, and it started growing two stems.

“I’d ended up losing a third baby, and my son had accidentally ran over the tree when it was a foot tall and it split into three trunks.

“This is good because Jeff’s on one side of town and I’m on the other. It’ll be an amazing journey to see how many friendships are made through this.”

Unlike Mr Smith’s baubles, Ms Crawford is emulating the Celtic Clootie well tradition, decorating her tree with ribbons inscribed with messages left for those who have passed.

About 20 ribbons have been written and tied so far, and Ms Crawford has left materials out for people come and decorate the tree themselves.

Having never met Ms Crawford prior and since becoming friends, Mr Smith said the memorial trees are also about connecting over shared experiences.

“I walked outside the other day and saw a gentleman reading our sign for it. We stood there for 10, 15 minutes chatting away and he’d lost his partner two years ago and had been struggling.

“A woman from America saw this on the older artists’ network on Facebook and asked if we could put a bauble up for her husband.

“She told me ‘My husband always wanted to travel to Australia. Now he’s there in a way’.”

Solidifying the effort further with the creation of the Christmas Memorial Trees Project Facebook group, Mr Smith said he hopes more people will take up the initiative.

He’s thinking of including involving suicide prevention networks for potential fundraisers, and lobbying to the City of Ballarat for a larger central tree.

Mr Smith’s tree can be found at 5 Warrina Drive, Delacombe, while Ms Crawford’s is at 5 Milverton Lane, Canadian, with the former’s decorations to be taken down in early January and the latter’s to remain all year round.