What makes your Nillumbik home town/area unique? Who are the characters who have made it so? What sites have significance and why? During 2005 Nillumbik Shire Council and the Literary Reference Group invited members of the community to respond to these questions, to show us the history and flavour of your place – then and […]
Bill’s West Heidelberg Childhood
By Bill Lemin I loved growing up in West Heidelberg. In the early 1930’s and 1940’s it still had a vast amount of open land and was sparsely populated. Despite this, there was still plenty for me to do. Our sizeable block (69’ x 185′) allowed plenty of room for activities and a variety of […]
Memories of Growing up with Crafts
This article is based on an interview conducted by a Council staff member, with a resident of Glenroy who has given her personal experiences, stories and anecdotes on growing up in New South Wales, moving to the Moreland municipality and having a passion and talent for the arts and crafts. These are personal reminiscences. Growing […]
World War 1 Casualty : William George Vincent Williams (Australia’s First Fatality)
Few will be aware that the first Australian casualty of the Great War on 1914 was William George Vincent Williams from 36 Beavers Road, Northcote. Williams had spent five years in the Naval Reserve and had just a week left to serve out his time when war was declared and he was commanded into full […]
World War 1 Casualty : William Wailes (Preston and Epping)
William Wailes served as 3952, Private, 23rd Infantry and was 23 years of age when killed in action at Lagnicourt, France on 20 March, 1917. His military career was unexceptional – perhaps one or two more run-ins with officialdom than the norm – but he was unusual in that he was one of five brothers […]
World War 1 Casualty : Francis Joseph Tarrant (Northcote)
(The image shows the Commanding Officers and Officers of No. 3 Squadron, pictured in 1917. Tarrant is on the far right of the back row.) Frank Tarrant from 135 Westgarth Street, Northcote was one in our files that served the country outside of the A.I.F. and just one or two that died as a result […]
World War 1 Casualty : Norman Brassey Pearce (Northcote)
Pearce’s family placed Notices suggesting he was killed in France on 19 July, 1916 – the Army disagreed, however, posting Pearce as a Deserter after he failed to embark in October, 1915. One of the more bizarre “deaths” in our archives. His family claimed he was killed on 19 July, 1916 – the Army, however, […]
World War 1 Casualty : James Munro (Australian Flying Corps) (Thornbury)
James Munro from 65 Pender Street, Thornbury was unfortunate to be captured by the Turks while acting as an Air Mechanic in support of British forces near Baghdad; his fate remains somewhat clouded; Although conditions in German prisoner-of-war camps were generally good until 1918 when the Allied blockade of shipping resulted in major food shortages, […]
World War 1 Casualty : Roy Hector Jones (Thornbury)
Some servicemen went through the War as humble privates and content with their lot. For commissioned officers, the pressures were significantly greater, and in the case of Captain Roy Hector Jones, just a little too much Roy Jones was a brother of Corporal Leslie Theophilus Jones, also Killed in Action; the duo from 21 Alexandra-street, […]
World War 1 Casualty : Harry Lowe (aka Henry Charles Lowe) (Preston)
The Great War attracted all types; the good, the bad and the ugly – and “Harry Lowe”, who we suspect in hindsight the A.I.F. may have wished had just stayed at home! To say Lowe, whose full name was Henry Charles Lowe, from Raglan Street, Preston, was a bit of a lad would be an understatement! […]