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MEMORIAL: Pastor Willy Maddock and Peter Ball.
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“One of our committee members saw it on a table, for sale for a couple of thousand dollars,” curator of the military museum at the Soldiers Memorial Hall Peter Ball said this week.
“The last time it was seen was in a lane in the city, when redevelopment was going on; we’d be really pleased if we could get hold of it,” Mr Ball said.
Mr Ball has been gathering a collection of honour boards, which commemorate people from Bendigo and the region who served in wars, for display at the military museum.
In pride of place is a large board which once hung in what is now part of the Catholic College campus on McCrae Street. The board lists the names of the boys from what was then the Marist Brothers school who enlisted in World War I.
Ex-RAAF chaplain Mike Pullar said that board had been stored for many years in a backyard shed, before a home was found for it in the museum
“After the refurbishments at the college, they didn’t know where to put it,” he said.
“It’s very important that we respect these traditions, to keep the memory of those who served.”
The walls of the Memorial Hall are already lined with honour rolls listing names from Bendigo East, Junortoun and Emu Creek. Most are gold-painted on lacquered wood, but one small roll, from Bendigo Base Hospital, is a list written in ink on parchment, and framed under glass.
Rev. Pullar said history could be traced behind the names listed.
“There are still many of those names in and around Bendigo,” he said, pointing out Marist Brothers old boys who went on to establish businesses or make their mark on the sporting field.
“We always look out for a name that might have been missed, to fill in the gaps in history,” he said.
Among the rolls are a number of boards that once hung in Bendigo churches, including Buckley Street Methodist and Forest Street Congregational.
In the lead-up to Anzac Day, a board which had recently been removed from the walls of what used to be St John’s Anglican Church in North Bendigo also found a permanent home at the Memorial Hall.
“Ensuring this piece of history, and the value of all it represents, will not be lost,” the honour roll was formally presented to Mr Ball by parish priest Willy Maddock.
She explained the decision to remove the board was made when the building was sold to the Coptic Church last year. Since that time, the Anglican Church has been in discussion with one of the families of the men listed on the roll.
Brenda Stevens Chambers, whose great uncle, Henry Foster Midgley, is listed on the St John’s board, said they were pleased the Memorial Hall was able to add it to its collection.
“I know they are now getting short of room, but this ensures the history will be honoured,” Ms Chambers said.
Ms Chambers is working on a book about Henry Midgley and his mother, who fiercely protected the memory of the dashing young soldier, who was killed in action in 1917 when he was 23.
“I have tons of material, including the letters home, although his war diary is missing,” she said.
“There had been a discussion in this very close and loving family about who was to go, who would represent the family, and Henry decided it would be him.”
A large photograph of Henry in an oval frame held pride of place in Ms Chambers’ grandmother’s house, alongside that of a child who died in infancy.
“I want to write his story, but also the story of his mother, my great grandmother, and the effect his death had on her life,” she said.
The St John’s board is much smaller than the Marist Brothers one, but it is still going to take a bit of juggling for Mr Ball to squeeze it into the increasingly crowded hall.
The honour boards, he said, are an important part of this increasingly valued collection, and there are often stories behind the names, which are unlocked by visitors who recognise them.
One of the honour rolls lists FR Bowry as having been awarded a VC, but a small note alongside says, “we know this is wrong”, and appeals to anyone able to identify the man behind the name to help them identify him.
This is the kind of work that the museum makes possible, Mr Bull said, “filling in the gaps in our history”.
The idea of an honour board up for sale and possibly lost to public display clearly worries him.
“No, it would be ideal if it could be donated to our collection,” he said.
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