Twenty-year-old George Risdon Grimwade had just finished his third year of medical studies at the University of Melbourne when he enlisted as a Private in the 6th Australian Field Ambulance of the Australian Army Medical Corp.
Sailing from Australia on 4 June 1915, he was killed by shrapnel at Gallipoli on 23 September 1915 while guarding a precious water tank on the arid Peninsula foothold held by the ANZACs.
Visiting the former Turkish battlefield in 2011, Grimwade’s great niece, Jeni Danks collected an acorn from a small prickly tree - now known as the Gallipoli Oak - at the Shrapnel Valley Cemetery in Anzac Cove.
Captain William Lempriere Winter Cooke, a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign, had similarly gathered acorns from the frontline. Mailed home in a tobacco tin to his uncle, Samuel Winter Cooke of "Murndal", outside Hamilton in western Victoria, they were propagated and planted after a short ceremony in May 1916.
Nearly a century later, Jeni has brought together a leaf from one of these historic Gallipoli Oaks from “Murndal” (Quercus calliprinos) and the acorn she found in Gallipoli, casting them in remembrance of the fallen.
The 1915 Gallipoli Acorn is hand cast in 925 Sterling Silver and worn on a 45cm ball chain.
