From that pine cone four trees were planted at war memorials in Australia in the early 1930s. Some seeds were also thought to have made the trip across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.
While there were a number of plantings of what were thought to be seedlings from the original Lone Pine around New Zealand, only one has been authenticated, which stands inside the Paeroa Golf Course.
But, it is believed the pine in the Rotorua Cemetery, which was planted on Anzac Day 1965 by Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Bassett, VC, is from the original tree.
According to an article published in the New Zealand Journal of Forestry in May 2007 titled "Stand up the real Anzac Lone Pine of Gallipoli", trees planted in Waikumete Cemetery in Auckland, the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Te Mata Peak, Te Puke, Wanganui, Taradale in Napier and Stratford are not the same species as the original Lone Pine.
Mr Stovold said he got involved in growing the seedlings in 2009 after an approach by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council that wanted to donate seedlings from the Paeroa tree to RSAs in the region.
According to Rotorua RSA president John Treanor the tree is a descendent of the original Lone Pine, but he said there was no way they could prove it.
He said members would be very interested in hearing the results of genetic testing.
Mr Stovold said he helped raise eight trees from Paeroa tree seeds in 2009, one of which will be planted in Wellington's new Anzac memorial gardens in 2015 to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli landings.
He said a second collection from the Paeroa tree was made in 2012, the Scion nursery is growing another 50 trees to donate for commemorative plantings in 2015.
The Battle of Lone Pine
The Battle of Lone Pine was fought between Australian and Turkish troops between August 6 and 10, 1915 as part of the Gallipoli campaign.
The battlefield was named after the solitary Turkish red pine tree (Pinus brutia) that stood there at the start of the fighting.
The battle is just as important in Australian folklore as the battle of Chunuk Bair is to New Zealanders.
The battle itself was planned as a diversionary attack to draw attention away from the main Anzac and British assaults against Suri Bair and Chunuk Bair, which was known as the August Offensive.
The attack was made by men from the Australian 1st, 2nd and 3rd Infantry Brigades with support from the Australian 2nd Light Horse brigade.
The Australians took their objectives early in the battle and held out against numerous Turkish counter-attacks. Their attack was deemed a success.
At the same time Allied troops, including the Auckland and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiments, attacked and eventually captured Chunuk Bair.
But, due to incompetent British and Anzac leadership which did not quickly reinforce the positions, the hill was lost after a number of massive Turkish counter-attacks on August 10 and was never regained.
Australian forces suffered 2277 killed and wounded, while the Turks suffered between 5000 and 7000 killed and wounded.
