HONOURING OUR FALLEN HEROES
CENTENARY commemorations marking the end of World War I will be held across the region this weekend.
The sacrifices of the 60,000-plus Australians who died during the four-year global conflict will be honoured at services on Saturday and Sunday.
The region’s youth will be front and centre at events recognising the courage and bravery of those long passed.
Drysdale schoolchildren will march while carrying photos of the 30 local soldiers killed in the conflict.
Sophie Nisbet will march with a photograph of Lieutenant Henry Stanley Davis, a civil engineer who left for the war in October 1915. He was killed at Bullecourt by machinegun fire in April 1917, as he closed in on German trenches on the Hindenberg line.
Hundreds of locals who volunteered for active service sailed through Port Phillip Heads, bound for some of the bloodiest battles in history.
“There were 331 who volunteered for World War I from Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale,” RSL sub-branch vice president Graham Christie said. “A large proportion of those didn’t make it back.”
Among those was Private William John Farrell, a great uncle to locals Jonathan, Michael and Elana.
He had been working as a driver in Queenscliff before embarking with the 5th Reinforcements in March, 1916. Nine months later, he died from wounds received in action on the Somme, aged 20.
Pte Farrell was buried in a cemetery in Rouen, a hospital base along the river Seine in France. His story — and that of Lieutenant Lewis Conrad Klug — will be shared at a service in Fort Queenscliff on Sunday.
Remembrance Day will be acknowledged a day earlier in Geelong West.
The special Saturday service will be the first held at the cenotaph in the forecourt of the Geelong West Town Hall in more than 20 years.
It has been organised by the Rotary Club of Geelong West and Geelong Legacy Club
Legacy president Mike Gibbons said his organisation was born out of the need to assist the families of those killed or who suffered as a result of World War I.
“It is appropriate that we take the opportunity to participate in the service at the Geelong West Cenotaph to ensure the legacy of those who served in World War I are not forgotten,” he said.