The discovery of Arthur Carr‘s relationship to the district was one of the more fortunate only being detected in a brief Death Notice from an aunt, Mrs. F. A. Copperthwaite (Frances Anne, nee May), who suggested he was “the eldest son of the late Mary Carr, late of Fairfield Park”. 1892 directories show Richard and […]
World War One Casualty : Benjamin Alfred Starling (Greensborough)
Benjamin Alfred Starling was a member of a well-known from Greensborough and a qualified civil engineer (University of Melbourne) working on railways in the Federated Malay States; but just before war broke out, he was called to England to testify in a legal case, after which he volunteered and served as a Second Lieutenant with […]
World War 1 Casualty : Alfred Shanhun (Diamond Creek)
Alfred Shanhun – Perhaps the most fascinating family background in our archives, but one that is one of the lesser known. The unusual family name is used by the AWM and National Archives as well as by the family in all correspondence in the latter, but it was, in fact, Shan Hun. Alfred was one of […]
World War 1 Casualty : Cedric Ernest Howell (Eaglemont)
Cedric Ernest Howell appears on the Heidelberg War Memorial as the most highly decorated serviceman from the district, and proved one of the most difficult to track down. The effort was, however, worth while, with Howell rising from a humble Private in the Infantry to a near-national hero in just under four years! There is […]
World War 1 Casualty : George Pinnock Merz (Ivanhoe)
Our feature image shows the ill-fated Cauldron GIII aircraft piloted by Lieutenant George Pinnock Benz taking off from Nasiriyah for the return flight to Basra. Lieutenant Reilly’s aircraft can just be seen in the background. Nearby Northcote boasts William George Vincent Williams as the first serviceman to be killed in the war, but to Ivanhoe […]
World War 1 Casualties : Adrian, Henry and John Connor
Very little is known of George Connor, listed as being resident at an unknown address in Heidelberg and the father of three sons killed in the conflict – the brothers all lived with their mother in Geelong and their parents appear to have been estranged. Adrian and John Connor embarked together with the 58th Infantry […]
World War 1 Casualties : The Shire of Heidelberg
World War 1 : The Shire of Heidelberg The original scope of the project was to research the areas covered by the Yarra Plenty Regional Library, i.e. the existing municipalities of Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea. This proved somewhat difficult in assess just where some of the outlying settlements would have fitted into today’s topology, hence a later decision was to instead take Dr. […]
The Shire of Heidelberg : Boer War Volunteers
Given the total number of Victorians that volunteered and were accepted for the Boer War was only around 3,600, the enlistments from Heidelberg Shire were not great (volunteering and being accepted were two different things – most of the contingents raised had far more men offer their services than could actually be fitted into the restricted number of places available. There […]
The Shires of Whittlesea and Epping : Boer War Volunteers
Given the total number of Victorians that volunteered and were accepted for the Boer War was only around 3,600, the enlistments from the-then Epping and Whittlesea Shires was not great (volunteering and being accepted were two different things – most of the contingents raised had far more men offer their services than could actually be fitted into the restricted numbers available. There is far less […]
World War 1 Casualty : Alexander Woods (aka Gingles (Whittlesea and Scrubby Creek)
The death of an Alexander Gingles was noted in the Preston Leader on 2 February, 1918 in an article relating to the return of another serviceman from Whittlesea. He remained a mystery as there is no record of a serviceman of this name listed in any World War One archives, but his true identity was […]