Tulloch Yuille and the Flemington Presbyterian Church

Flemington-Kensington Church News, courtesy of the Reverend Phillip Court.

In 1916 the Presbyterian Church in Norwood St, Flemington called Alexander Tulloch Yuille to serve their community.  He found them distressed by the destruction being wrought on the young men of their community, and he picked up a heavy load to minister until the war had ended and the living had returned.  One of the means he used to both comfort his parishioners and reach out to the absent part of his congregation was a tiny newsletter - the Flemington-Kensington Church News.  The tiny bound volume of newsletters pictured above was the only one to survive an arsonist's fire in later decades.   The newsletters were sent to the boys away at the war as well as to those at home, and in this way he supported the community in their sorrow.  You can read more about Tulloch Yuille's time in Flemington on the Empire Called website.

Soul of the Battalion: the role of brass bands in the Great War

An illustrated lecture by Jillian Durance

Grainger Museum, 28th Jun 2015 3:00pm
Royal Parade, near Gate 13
The University of Melbourne

Free admission. Please book ahead as numbers are limited
Contact the Grainger Museum at grainger@unimelb.edu.au or telephone 8344 5270.

  Using selected items in the Grainger Museum's current exhibition, Pack up your troubles: Music and the Great War, as well as items in Herbert Godber's own personal collection, Jillian Durance will explore the experiences of the battalion bandsmen, both at home in the training camps and overseas, on the battlefront and behind the lines. Through photographs, diary entries and memoir, Jillian will look at the origins of the bandsmen as well as their musical backgrounds. In particular, she will tell the story of her grandfather's role as a bandsman of the 21st Battalion. This lecture will touch on the lives of all those bandsmen who played to enliven the spirits of others, to provide solace to the wounded, to lend dignity to ceremonial occasions and to provide a vital cultural link between those fighting at the front and those waiting at home for their return.

Jillian is the author of the book Still Going Strong: the story of the Moyarra Honour Roll.

Flemington-Kensington Presbyterian Church

This is the former Flemington Presbyterian Church in Norwood St, Newmarket, which was burnt to the ground in 1970. The site is currently occupied by St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, which uses the old Sunday School building, just visible in the photo at the back of the church.

The photo was taken in 1943 by Alan Elliott, and located in Trove by the Organ Historical Trust of Australia.  

 I was hoping to get a photograph of the WW1 Honour Roll, but missed it by 43 years. If anyone just happens to have a photo (or transcript) of the Roll of Honour, which was a very large one, I understand, I would love to hear from you. Also if you have relatives who served who were associated with the church before the war. So far I know that Gus Stelling and Roy Easton were members of that congregation.
 

Ascot Vale Presbyterian Church - For God and Empire

The Honour Roll, pictured in a pamphlet published for the unveiling, in the collection of the Essendon Hist. Society Inc. The Honour Roll and the Church were destroyed by an arsonist in 2004.

The unveiling of the Ascot Vale Presbyterian Church took place on Wednesday 15 September, 1920. Corporal F W Edmonds gave an organ recital which included pieces composed by Handel and Mendelssohn.    Captain-Chaplain W Fraser said the first prayer.  Colonel Chaplain D Macrae Stewart gave the address, and Senator-Brigadier H E Elliott, CB, CMG, DSO, DM, performed the unveiling.

D Macrae Stewart was the minister of the Ascot Vale Presbyterian Church from 1881 to 1903, immediately preceding Chaplain William Fraser.  Stewart served as a Chaplain in Gallipoli and France, but returned to Australia in 1916 when appointed the Senior Chaplain of the 3rd Military District (ie, Victoria).

The honour roll was an opus sectile, beautifully crafted from tiles.  This one was unusual in that it had the colour patches of the AIF represented in a block of tiles just above the legend "The Great War".  Another church in the district with an opus sectile is St Thomas' Church of England in Moonee Ponds.

WW1 Pictorial Honour Rolls

Cpl Kenneth Yates of Essendon

A useful site for either posting photos or searching for photos of WW1 servicemen is this one for WW1 Pictorial Honour Roll

They are organised alphabetically by state.  You can also search by name. Many of the photos are from well-known sources, but many are from private sources.

Employees of the Metropolitan Gas Co who served in the Great War

Linda Barraclough has located a copy of this very rare book down at Old Gippstown, and has very kindly decided to scan the whole book, and make it available for those who wish to have access to it - and as a continuing record of the service of the men involved.

Linda says: " Accordingly, I am slowly scanning the 62 pages, usually over coffee, and will make it available over the next few weeks. I am hoping that those who access it (and you are welcome to download), will respect my request that is not be otherwise reproduced without further discussion with me. I would be fairly angry is anyone thought it appropriate to lift to sell, as I do not believe money should be made from what is basically a war memorial.

Family history groups / libraries etc are welcome to download to place on CD in appropriate collections. Those wishing to record it on webpages are invited to link to the URL below".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20949561@N04/sets/72157624475856395/