Percy Chaster Brearley

By Cheryl Griffin. Percy Brearley was born at Geelong, but enlisted in the 23rd Battalion at Rutherglen in February 1915 aged 25 years 6 months. He qualified for a commission and was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in December 1916 and then served with the 46th Battalion. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in July […]

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Digger Smith and the conscription debate

By Cheryl Griffin. “E’s been once wounded, somewhere in the leg…” 6906 Private Lawrence Joseph Smith enlisted on 18 July 1918 and served with the 22nd Infantry Battalion. His parents were William Smith, an overseer, and Letitia Josephine McLoughlin. He’d been born in Coburg, lived with his parents and siblings in Coke Street (later Cope […]

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Growing up in Pascoe Vale

I started school at the Catholic school in Kensington and soon after we moved to Pascoe Vale. That would have been about 1940 or 1941. I started at Pascoe Vale Primary School then all the Catholic children transferred to Blessed Oliver Plunckett’s. We spent many years in Ray Street, Pascoe Vale. Most people in the […]

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