Kilmore Camp, 1912

Ru Jacobsohn of Ascot Vale is third from the left in this photo of the Kilmore Camp, 1912.  Photo courtesy of  Margery Burston.

Volunteer corps were preparing for armed conflict well before 1914.   The above photo shows volunteers of the Victorian Rifles.   Ru later became part of the 58 Inf Bn (Essendon Rifles), and joined the 7 Inf Bn, AIF in 1914.

Mourning card for Lieutenant Jack Jennings

Mourning card for Lt J E Jennings, courtesy of John Taylor

John Edgar (Jack) Jennings, who embarked with the 24 Inf Bn, was the son of a former Mayor of Essendon.    Jack fell at Bullecourt on 3 May 1917.  His name is included on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.  He was a highly regarded young man, and many tributes to him were published in the Essendon Gazette.

Christmas Greetings!

Lt H V Wood memorialised in two cities

2 Lt Harry Vasey Wood.  Photo courtesy of Natalie Stone.

Harry Vasey Wood had an association with Box Hill/Nunawading prior to his parents' move to Essendon in 1914/15.  He is not widely memorialised in Essendon - he appears only on the Moonee Ponds Methodist Church Roll of Honour, and the Essendon Gazette Roll of Honour.  His name is memorialised more widely in Box Hill and Nunawading, which I learnt from the Whitehorse Historical Society website which has a link to a Diggers Database.

Harry had studied at the University of Melbourne, and was a dentist when he enlisted in the 29 Infantry Battalion in 1915.  He was killed in a raid near Bapaume in March 1917.

Putting out fires on the Western Front

3 Pioneer Battalion waiting at Port Melbourne to board the Karoo, 1916. AWM PB0514

When the War broke out in Europe, John Mathew Farrell was working on ships as a marine fireman.  He didn't join the AIF immediately, and Rod Martin, who tells his story, considers some of the reasons for this, as well as the pressures involved.    Although he enlisted from Scotia Street in Moonee Ponds, he was a country boy from Wangaratta, one of ten children.  Two of his brothers also served.    In his story, Rod describes the lot of the Pioneer, and John Farrell's part in putting out the fires on the Western Front.