St George's Anglican Church, Travancore WW1 commemoration

I saw this on the Flemington-Kensington News Facebook:

"In commemoration of the centenary of the First World War, St George's Anglican Church, Travancore will read the Roll of Honour of the parish participants in the conflicts of 1914 - 1918 during the 9.30am service on 3 August 2014. Family members of combatants whose names appear on the Honour Roll are invited to attend and stay for morning tea after the service".  

 The original St George's Church, at the time of the war, was located in Manningham St, Parkville, so the parishioners on the Roll of Honour include men (and one woman) from Carlton, Parkville, Flemington, Kensington, and North Melbourne.

John Goldsworthy, Mayor of Essendon, 1914

The Colours and Emblems of the 58 Infantry (Essendon Rifles) Regiment, designed by Councillor John Goldsworthy, the Mayor of Essendon, featured on a Patriotic Concert Program from 1914.

Marilyn Kenny has prepared an overview of the role of Councillor John Goldsworthy, who became  the youngest Mayor of Essendon when he was elected to that position in 1914.  Goldsworthy  set a cracking pace supporting patriotic activities within the City of Melbourne.   A graphic artist, his design for the emblems and colours of the 58 Inf Regt was accepted by the Commonwealth.  It was Goldsworthy who created the first Honour Boards in the Essendon Town Hall.  You can read the full story here.

Essendon 1914: local impact of WW1

Melbourne High School Roll of Honour

The Melbourne High Rifle Team in 1910.  Many of these boys would have joined up a few years later.

Many of the local volunteers didn't appear on any of the local school Honour Boards.  About 30 of them had attended Melbourne High School, a selective government school in South Yarra. 

The Roll of Honour for this school appears in The Story of Melbourne High School, 1905-1921:  Jubilee Year of State Education in Victoria.  J Hocking, B.A, Principal.   Specialty Press: Melbourne, 1922. 

The Book has been digitised and can be found on the State Library of Victoria website at this URL: 

http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/182290.

 The school magazine, called "Ours", throughout the war carried news and letters as well as photos of the ex-students and teachers.  Copies of the magazine are available at the State Library of Victoria, either in hard copy or inicroform.  The school has also loaded up three 1915 issues onto their school library website.

An extracted list of the local lads included in the Melbourne High School Roll of Honour can be seen here

Flemington-Kensington Presbyterian Church

Courtesy of The Reverend Phillip Court, St Stephens Presbyterian Church, Flemington.

A very lucky find is a photograph of the Honour Boards installed in the Flemington-Kensington Presbyterian Church in 1917.  Follow the link to discover who these young men were.

A little Digger humour

Australian troops going into action across Plugge's Plateau after the landing on 25 April at about midday. Photographer: Charles Bean. Australian war Memorial Collection, G00907.

The battalion landed that night, and the next day saw a fatigue party going to the beach for stores. An observer on Gaba Tepe saw them, and Beachy Bill opened out with shrapnel. This was their first taste of shell fire. The strategic retreat back to the shelter of a communication trench was one of the quickest movements seen on the peninsula. 

One man who was noted for his "good oil" about racehorses shook his head sorrowfully at the sky where the shells were bursting! "This is no place for a parson's son," he declared solemnly. "They'll miss me in the old home," he ruminated a little later. They'll see me name on the roll of honour, and be sorry they ever cut me off."

http://empirecall.pbworks.com/w/page/49243657/Southland