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.

St Thomas's Church of England Roll of Honour

The very beautiful Roll of Honour at St Thomas's Church of England, Mt Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds, is an example of what is called 'optus sectile', which is a work in tiles.  A series of tiles contain the names of the members of the church who volunteered for the Great War.  At the top of the list are those who died. 

The list is strangely personal, in that it does not list ranks, but first names, unlike many which give initials only.

It is a beautiful piece of art, and well worth a look if you are in the vicinity of the church. 

The full list of names on this Roll of Honour has been placed on the Empire Called website, and I am working through linking each name to a personal record.

Other examples of opus sectile were discussed earlier on this blog.

St Thomas' Anglican Church, Essendon, Roll of Honour

An example of the opus sectile style of Honour Roll at St Thomas' Anglican Church, Essendon.

Other examples can be seen at the Maffra Library, and also the former Teachers' College, previously discussed here.

Teachers College Rolls of Honour

The Teachers College recognised the service of their teacher trainees with three wonderful leadlight windows and two astonishing tiled memorials. 

Two of the leadlight windows carry the names of those who served , and those who died in World War 1, while the third features an AIF serviceman.  The tiled memorials have been re-established in the building which is now the School of Graduate Studies, University of Melbourne, in Grattan St, Carlton.

The tiled memorials carry portraits of those who died.  I've been comparing this memorial with the one at Maffra, which Linda on the Maffra and District Historical Society blog describes as an opus sectile work.

Six names from the Essendon and Flemington database appear in the leadlight window memorial:

E C Holmes *
B J Keddie
G R Scott *
R G Scott
C F Sullivan *
F H McNamara

(* those who died)


An article by Jay Miller in 2006 explains the rediscovery if the memorials and the research on them, 'We shall not wholly die'  can be downloaded from the Ian Potter Museum website - a special issue of their Magazine "The Trainee" containing all the names of those who enlisted.

A brochure on the memorials can be downloaded from here

And last, but by no means least, a pdf version of "The Trainee: special War number 1919", which contains the names and portraits of the volunteers.

NOTE:  Some six years after the event the Ian Potter Museum has removed the items to which I linked (in bold above).   The best I can do to cover the subject is to provide a link to a webpage on the Teachers' Memorial Window on The Empire Called website, and you can download a copy of The Trainee from here.

Opus sectile Rolls of Honour

Linda down at the Maffra Historical Society blog has put up some very beautiful examples of the mosaic style of Honour Roll to be found at the Maffra Library.  These memorials Linda believes are by the Melbourne company Brooks, Robinson & Co which advertised in Anglican newsletters.  It is possible that the Roll of Honour at St Thomas' Anglican Church in Moonee Ponds is this sort of thing - I do remember it having tiles with names inscribed but can't quite recall the rest.