By Jim Allen
On 30th June 1915 the Evelyn Observer and Bourke Record started advertising for details of local and district men who had enlisted for service in World War One. This request continued throughout 1916 for the districts of:
Arthur’s Creek
Kangaroo Ground
Queenstown
Whittlesea
Eltham
Kinglake
Research
Wonga Park
Hurstbridge
Panton Hill
Yarra Glen & District
On 16th November 1917 The Eltham and Whittlesea Shires Advertiser and Diamond Creek Advocate ran an article stating that the State School Patriotic Fund held a function at Research State School on 3rd November 1917, to unveil the local Honour Board and it was a pronounced success. The Board itself was described as a beautiful piece of work in blackwood and was worthy of the 20 whose names were inscribed there on in gold lettering. Names of the servicemen listed on the board were as follows: (Those listed with the serviceman’s full name have been identified and those with initials only have not.)
A.W. Brown
Robert Meadows (served under alias of Allen Cassell) +
William Rogerson Bell
John Charlton Bell +
Richard Oliver
Bettison Henry
James Reginald Cole
Thomas Herbert Clow
Alfred Cassell +
T. Cameron
W. Davies
Walter James Moseley +
Arthur Henry Meadows
Ivor Roy McLachlan
Charles Frederick McBain
Henry Albert Norman +
Fredrick John Orford
William Jonas Prior +
Thomas Scarce
Wilson Begg Thomas
Benjamin Francis West
+ Denotes those who died during the war.
Unfortunately, in hindsight the raising of an Honour Board a year prior to a conflict concluding was not a wise move, as the names of a further four people who served have been discovered, but these are not listed. They are as follows:
William John Cameron
John Powell Wilfred
Leonard Cartwright
William Charles Cook
As boundaries of districts have changed over time and some servicemen have provided the nearest town for attestation it has often been difficult to confirm the member’s relationship with Research.
Research State School has had two major fires during its life, the first being on 27th July 1953. On this occasion as the fire station was located just across the road from the school the brigade were promptly on the scene and managed to save a substantial portion of the single roomed schoolhouse, from what otherwise would have been total destruction. Then on 17th August 1976 the old school at Research burnt to the ground in a fierce and rapid fire. The fire brigade, although quickly on the scene, were powerless to do anything more than prevent the spread of flames to other classrooms.
Old Research State School
Former pupils and staff who have had a long association with the school do not know what happened to the board. It would appear that the Honour Board was lost in one of the two fires.
After further consideration and discussions with the President of the Eltham District Historical Society (EDHS) it was decided to apply for a Department of Veterans’ Affairs Grant to recreate the Board, in view of the many grants that were available due to the approaching anniversary of World War One.
The next step was to approach the Memorial Advisory Committee (MAC) of Nillumbik Shire Council to see if they would support the application. An approach was also made to the Research Primary School to see if they were happy to display the board. The answer in both cases was a very positive yes. Due to the problems that had been experienced by incorrect names being engraved on Honour Boards in the past the MAC requested the list of names be checked by an alternative person. This was very much to our advantage as after an hour of cross checking the decision had been made to delete one person who could not be identified, though enough space was left on the board to include him at a later date, if need be. We also identified one previously unidentified person and found a second whose father’s initials had been used in error, giving a total of 24 names as per the original list.
By this time EDHS had written the submission for the grant and it was dispatched. All I had to do now was sit back and sweat on the grant being approved and the board manufactured in time to be presented to the school on the 11 November 2014, the date arranged for the unveiling.
As usual, the best plans of men and mice never run according to plan. By 21 October 2014 I was getting pretty anxious, as we had still not heard if our grant was going to be approved. An email to the Council and a further phone call to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs resolved the problem and the Council stated they would cover the cost of manufacturing the Board until written formal approval was received. So it was back to the school to arrange a new date for the presentation.
At 2.45 pm on 1st December 2014 in a simple ceremony at the school assembly of the Research Primary School, the new Honour Board was unveiled to students, teachers, parents and guests. After speeches by the Mayor of Nillumbik, Councillor Helen Coleman and Jim Connor the President of EDHS, the Mayor and myself unveiled the Board. The revised list of names on this new Honour Board represents those who served in World War One from the Research area.
It is intended that the Honour Board will be on display in the foyer of the building currently occupied by the Prep and Grade 1 classes.
So after over 38 years the Research World War One Honour Board has finally been returned to it’s home and the school proudly announced this occasion on their large sign on Main Road.
This story was first published in “Fine Spirit and Pluck: World War One Stories from Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea” published by Yarra Plenty Regional Library, August 2016
