Church Street Memorial Trees

Brisbane Youth Service has played a major role in the assistance of disadvantaged young people throughout Brisbane since the late 1970s. The organisation is a community based support facility that provides services such as free health care, meals and other forms of support for people aged twelve to twenty-five. Each of the six young people who died on the streets had associations with Brisbane Youth Service.

The six people were all aged between 20 and 25 and died between 2003 and 2004. They were Paul Tessmann, James Kay, Chad Cook, Dionne Gatton, Andrew Hovelle and Andrew Davis. The loss of the six young people was felt deeply by their close friends and the workers at Brisbane Youth Service. A reflection of the grief experienced by those who knew the deceased was the planting of the memorial trees on the small traffic island directly outside the Brisbane Services Building in Fortitude Valley. 

Originally six Blue Quandongs (Elaeocarpus Grandis) were planted, each representing the life of one of the youths who died. For the first year the trees were regularly tended to while they became established. Unfortunately one of trees was damaged by a truck and so had to be removed, hence the number of the existing memorial trees is five. 

The memorial plantings are an important reminder to all those living in Brisbane that there are many homeless and disadvantaged young people in need of assistance. The memorial reminds us that there are many dangers for those who do not have stable homes and sadly this can have tragic consequences. 

1. Gunn, Harrison, Schrader, “Homeless Young People: Facilitating Their Access to Primary Health Care”, New Doctor, Summer, 1998, p.9