Families and Friends of the First AIF

Across Australia in small country towns to capital cities and throughout the world people have gathered to commemorate ANZAC Day on 25 April.

Saluting their service and sacrifice

FFFAIF members were present at services around the country and across the world – from northern Queensland to Victoria and across in France, Belgium and England. 

Keep a look out for reports from across Australia and around the world.

Continuing our coverage across Australia in small country towns and capital cities and throughout the world where people have gathered to commemorate ANZAC Day on 25 April.

FFFAIF members have been reporting from northern Queensland to Victoria and across the world in France, Belgium and England. 

FFFAIF member Heather (Frev) Ford reports from Croydon, Victoria ( 37°47’39.80″S, 145°16’53.82″E)

The Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Croydon War Memorial ( Victoria ) 2009

The weather on this 2009 Anzac Day morn was kind, & although showers had been predicted, the morning remained dry & quite mild.

 The Croydon Memorial is located in the roundabout of a busy intersection beside the railway station, and is therefore extremely well-lit.  Although this allows all in attendance to easily witness the entire proceedings, and makes it very conducive for photography, it does however detract from the ‘dark before the dawn’ atmosphere.

The local police were generous with their time, blocking off all four streets to allow for the hundreds in attendance.  They also chauffered the members of the Catafalque Party back to the RSL after the ceremony (suggesting, if requested nicely, that they would travel with flashing lights!).

 The Catafalque Party was formed from young RAE Reservists, from the 4 Combat Engineer Regiment (Ringwood East), who performed their duty admirably.

 Veterans from the Croydon RSL presided over a service that was short but poignant, and the President was very pleased to note the huge increase in attendance over previous years.

 Amongst the ‘floral offerings’, the one laid by the local scouts in the form of a ‘window box’ planted with poppies & crosses, rates a special mention.

Locals were very appreciative of the magnificent gunfire breakfast served in the dining room of the RSL after the service – where the President again made a point of thanking all those concerned for making the morning a success.

Photos by Andrew Lucas (Father of the member of the Catafalque Party featured in the photos)

Major General Mike O’Brien, the senior Australian Army Officer with responsibility for the investigation and recovery of any Australian War Dead at Fromelles, recently outlined at the FFFAIF Regional Meeting at Bathurst, the broad timetable for the development of the new Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC) Cemetery at Fromelles and the exhumation of the soldiers remains at Pheasant Wood and their re-interment in the new cemetery:

February 2009 – CWGC announced Oxford Archaeology as the successful tenderer for exhuming the soldier remains;
March 2009  – expected the CWGC will announce the successful tenderer for scientific testing (including DNA analysis) of the remains;
May 2009 – exhumations to commence;
Late 2009 – preparation of the new CWGC Cemetery completed;
February 2010 – reburial of soldier’s remains in the new CWGC Cemetery will commence at a rate of about 20 soldiers per day with a simple service for each soldier;
March 2010 – a Joint Information Board will consider the scientific and physical evidence to assign identities to those soldiers where DNA or other evidence indicates a match;
April 2010 – Next of Kin will be advised of the outcome of the identification process;
19 July 2010 – the Dedication Ceremony for the new CWGC Cemetery will take place.

 As the following photographs from Carole Laignel, Secretary of the Fromelles & Weppes Terre de Mémoire 14-18 show, the site development work has commenced (visit the FWTM website at www.asbf14-18.org).

Bilingual signs have been erected where the new access road to Pheasant Wood joins the main road.

Site-work has commenced on the development of the new Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC) Cemetery with the removal of some of the top soil.  Convoys of large trucks have been involved in the site preparation work.

Heavy earth moving equipment has been used in the development of access roads and site preparations.

The burial pits before Pheasant Wood have been largely undisturbed for the past 9 decades, but site preparations have now commenced so that the exhumations can commence in early May.

*****

The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.

Montrose War Memorial – Victoria.

FFFAIF member Heather Ford has compiled this report on her local war memorial at Montrose, Victoria:

The Montrose War Memorial was commissioned in 1921, and was originally located in the middle of the town’s main intersection of Mt Dandenong and Canterbury roads.  

Photo: Montrose War Memorial circa 1940 [State Library of Victoria] 

In the 1970’s, due to the increased traffic through the town and the need to update the road-scaping the memorial was moved to the Montrose Recreation Reserve and set in a rose garden.

After the completion of the new Montrose Town centre in 1986, a local RSL member and Korean war veteran successfully campaigned for the memorial to be moved back to a more prominent position in the town. The memorial now stands very close to it’s original site. (37^o48’37.07″S 145^o20’37.30″E)

Photo: Montrose War Memorial March 2008 [Heather Ford]

In early 2008, the ‘Korean Vet’ was informed that the memorial would be relocated to make way for new garden beds, but after complaints were made to the local councillor, the plans were changed to incorporate the memorial in the refurbishment scheme. 

The names of 20 Montrose residents are inscribed on the memorial, including 3 who died on active service. On the memorial below a bronze rising son insignia is a plaque with the following inscription: 

ERECTED BY
THE PEOPLE OF
MONTROSE
AS A TRIBUTE TO
HER GALLANT SONS
WHO TOOK PART
IN THE
GREAT WAR
1914 – 1919

DIED ON SERVICE
FRED DAVIES
GORDON EWART
NORMAN HOOKE 

Photo: Private Gordon Ewart
58th Battalion
KIA
1st October 1918
[AWM]

 The other names of those who served in the Great War are: Sister Edith Yeaman, Louis Cazaly, Cyril Crameri, Robert Davies, George Davies, Alfred Fairbank, Walter Houghton, Allan Hooke, Ellis Jeeves, Henry Lalor, Roy Langley, Roy Marshall, Robert McComas, Albert Round, William Walker, Lindsay Yeaman.    

It is reported that amongst the first survivors to return to the town was Sister Edith Yeaman.  Edith had enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service in the May of 1915 and embarked with the 3^rd Australian General Hospital on the 18^th of that month – arriving back in Melbourne exactly 4 years later (give or take a few days) on the 15^th May 1919.  During these 4 years she had been stationed on Lemnos, and in Egypt, England and France.
Two of Edith’s brothers, Lindsay & Wilfred also served.  Lindsay survived influenza and various wounds including being gassed, and returned home in the June of 1919.  While Wilfred was demobbed in England in May 1919 in order to join the Russian Relief Force, before he too returned home. 

*****

The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.

The small NSW country town of Coolah, in conjunction with Anzac Day, will be holding an exhibtion on Coolah and District soldiers of First World War.

The usual Anzac Day services at Coolah for 2009 will be supplemented with a display for several following days in the town Gallery of photographs and details relating to local soldiers who served in the First World War.  In addition there will be war photos, paintings, recruiting posters, letters home and memorabilia.

Coolah’s most decorated soldier was Louis Matthias, DCM with bar and MM. Jim Trail and Tom Baillieu were both DFC winners. Three others won military medals. Out of 122 names on the Coolah Memorial, 29 locals were either killed or died of wounds. 

Several relatives from Sydney will be attending the service and gallery display. One is related to Lieutenant William Hawke who was killed in action.  William was a descendant of N. Hawke, who, with P. Russell, in 1904 and onwards had a commercial store in Coolah. 

Two soldiers from Coolah joined the recruiting marches: Clem Kane, the 1915 Cooee March from Gilgandra; and William Hunter, the 1916 Kookaburra March from Tooraweenah.

The exhibition is unique and is believed to be the first time in a country area such a display has been held in conjunction with an Anzac Day service.

*****

 The most decorated soldiers from Coolah who is featuring in the exhibition also featured in issue 23 of the Families and Friends of the First AIF quarterly magazine DIGGER.  

 Below is an extract from the article written by DIGGER editor Graeme Hosken:

A courageous soldier: Lieutenant Louis John Mathias, DCM & Bar, MM,33rd Battalion

Tambar Springs, a small farming community between Coolah and Gunnedah, contributed its fair share of men to the AIF in the Great War. The most-decorated soldier on the village’s war memorial is a ‘Lieut LJ Mathias, DCM & Bar, MM’. Given that the DCM is the bravery award ranked below the VC, it appears that Mathias was some soldier, as he was awarded the DCM twice, plus a Military Medal…………………….. 

Photo: Lieutenant LJ Mathias, DCM and Bar, MM, of Coolah, NSW. [AWM P0331/01.]

If you would like to read more on Lieutenant Mathias of other soldiers of the First AIF, why not fill out a Membership Application Form today and enjoy the benefits of our DIGGER magazines? Membership is $A40 p.a. For more details visit our Members Area (click on tab at the top of the page).

Each edition of DIGGER contains many articles and photos, the majority of which are published for the first time and are provided by members. Details of the contents of past DIGGER magazines can be viewed by clicking on the DIGGER tab at the top of this page.

Copyright © DIGGER Magazine. All material in DIGGER is copyright. Subject to the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, reproduction in any form is not permitted without written permission of the Editor or Author/s.

*****

The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.