The establishment of some local Red Cross units

During the Great War, many of the women in the local community spent their time raising funds and working for the War Effort through organisations such as the Red Cross.  The Cranbourne Red Cross was established at  a meeting held on August 17 1914. The South Bourke and Mornington Journal of August 27 1914 reported on this meeting A meeting of the ladies of Cranbourne was convened by Mrs A. Nash...and it was decided to work for the Red Cross Society.  Mrs Nash had already collected 20 pounds in monetary donations and most of this had been spent on material that her 60 to 70 enthusiastic workers would make up into shirts and socks etc. The items were then forwarded to Red Cross Headquarters in Melbourne where they were shipped off  to the seat of war where they will be used for the benefit of Australian, British and troops of the allies. You can read the full article on Trove,  here.

Mrs A. Nash was Mary Maud Nash wife of Albert, who owned the grazing property Ballarto at Cranbourne. Maud was well connected. She was the daughter of  Theodotus Sumner and his wife Sarah (nee Peers). Her sister Annie was married to James Grice, who was the brother of Richard Grice, land owner in Berwick and Cranbourne, after whom Grice's Road is named - you can read about him here and another sister, Alice, married Charles Ryan - they were the parents of Lady Casey who owned Edrington at Berwick - you can read about Lady Casey here. In spite of being socially well connected it doesn't seem like it was  'happy families' all the time as there was a family dispute over Theodotus Sumner's will - you can read about this here.

Back to the Red Cross - the Berwick Red Cross was also established by the women who were socially prominent (or their husbands or fathers were).  I am not denigrating them at all by saying that, but the reality of life was that at the time, women who came from solid middle class households would likely to have had a good education, have good connections in the town and more spare time to devote to community causes than poorer women. The early records of the Berwick Red Cross were destroyed in a house fire, but I believe it started around September 1914 and it is still going, which is  a remarkable achievement. The Berwick Shire News has a report of the Berwick Shire Council meeting of  September 12 1914 and amongst the correspondence was a letter from Lady Stanley asking for the co-operation of the Council in forming a branch of the British Red Cross Society. The action was listed as 'Attended to'  [Lady Stanley was the wife of the Victorian Governor]

The original members of the Berwick Red Cross (pictured below in front of Kippenross House) were President Mrs Scott Sharp, Secretary Mrs A.E Thomas, Mrs L.D Beaumont, Mrs W. Wilson, Mrs C. Griffiths, Mrs J.B Pearson and Mrs John Brown. As is quite common in reporting from times past women were referred to by their husband's names - Scott Alexander Sharp is listed in the Electoral Rolls as a grazier and his wife is Beatrice May (nee Wimble); Mrs A.E Thomas is the wife of Albert Thomas the founder of the Berwick Shire News which later became the Pakenham Gazette, she was born Elizabeth Cox Southern.  Mrs Lewellyn David Beaumont was Ellie Buchanan, daughter of the Hon. James Buchanan, M.L.C. and his wife Anne (nee Wilson) The Buchanans lived at Ardblair in Berwick and their son Norman was one of the authors of Early Days of Berwick. He writes about his parents in the book.  Mrs W. Wilson was the wife of William Wilson (1860-1936) the owner of the Wilson Quarry. She was Anne Buchanan, a sister of Ellie Beaumont. Mrs C. Griffiths was the wife of Dr Christopher Griffiths and was born Annie Lawry Parkes. Mrs J.B Pearson was the wife of  John Benward Pearson, a grazier, who built Kippenross House  (now part of St Margarets School) in 1911. She was born Olive Gooch and married John, who was the son of William Pearson, M.L.C., in November 1895. Finally Mrs John Brown was the wife of the Berwick Shire Rate Collector. I believe she was Frances Elizabeth Barr, but that's all I know about her.

This fantastic photograph of the original seven members of the Berwick Red Cross comes from the book Berwick Nostalgia:  a pictorial history of Berwick, published by the Berwick-Pakenham Historical Society in 2001. 

The Pakenham Red Cross was formed at a  meeting held on November 26, 1915. You can read the report on the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of December 9, 1915 here. The meeting was convened by Cr Close who started the meeting by saying that all the other townships in the Shire of Berwick had their Red Cross branches and it was time for Pakenham to fall into line and do what it could, as a town, to help those who are so nobly serving their King and Country at the Front. Office bearers were Mrs Greenwood, President; Mrs Wilson, Secretary and Miss Cissie Hagens, Treasurer. The Committee were Mesdames Close, Chisholm, Maher, Ritchie, White and the Misses Thewlis and Mulcahey.

Once again I will try to give these women a name - Cr Close and Mrs Close were William and Agnes, he was a grazier. Mrs Alice Greenwood was the wife of Auctioneer, Arthur Greenwood. I don't know who Mrs Wilson was and Cissie Hagens may be the sister of Marie and Louise Hagens, both listed in the 1914 Electoral rolls as being teachers, or else Cissie might be her nick name and she may actually be either Marie or Louise. Mrs Chisholm is presumably Alice Chisholm, wife of James, a grazier. Mrs Maher is possibly Bridget Maher, the wife of local policeman, Stephen. The Mahers had three sons serving overseas - you can read about them here. Mrs Ritchie may be Elizabeth Ritchie, wife of William. I don't have any information on Mrs White. Miss Thewlis would be the daughter of James and Susannah Thewlis and the sister of Syd Thewlis, who was a Berwick Shire Councillor. Miss Mulcahey  (more likely spelt Mulcahy)  would be connected to early Pakenham landowner, Thomas Mulcahy.


The Koo-Wee-Rup Red Cross was formed on July 7, 1915. It is still going and you can read a history of the Unit, written by long serving member Don Jewell,  here.

 This is a Red Cross Rally in Koo-Wee-Rup, in front of the Royal Hotel which opened September 1915, so this is probably 1916 or 1917.

Photo: Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society

I don't know when the Lang Lang Red Cross was established specifically but it was going strong in September 1915. There is an interesting article in the Lang Lang Guardian of September 15, 1915 about the activities of this branch - they are anxious to send Christmas cheer to our boys  and would be glad of donations of tobacco, tooth brushes, bought puddings (as these pack better), cake, biscuits, lollies, and games of any kind, handkerchiefs, or small presents for the boys of whom we are all so
proud.  They also wanted to fill some billies and send them to the soldiers with something to eat, something to smoke, something to use and something to amuse. 

Lang Lang Guardian  September 15, 1915

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119512872

Beaconsfield Avenue of Honour: Servicemen remembered - now online

We have spoken about the book Beaconsfield Avenue of Honour: Servicemen remembered before in this blog (click here for the link) and the good news is that this book is now fully available on-line on the Beaconsfield Progress Association's new website - this is the direct link to the on-line version of the book http://beaconsfield.org.au/beaconsfield-avenue-of-honour/

The book covers the lives of  the 65 men who were honoured with trees in the Beaconsfield/Berwick Avenue of Honour which runs along High Street/Princes Highway, from the top of the hill down to the Cardinia Creek.  This on-line version makes this well researched information even more widely available and, like the trees in the Avenue, is another permanent reminder of the sacrifice that the 65 men and their families from the Beaconsfield area made one hundred years ago.

Some of the entries  have photographs of the soldiers - here are three  of them 

Private Alec May

Source: Beaconsfield Avenue of Honour: Servicemen remembered

Signaller James Adamson

Source: Beaconsfield Avenue of Honour: Servicemen remembered

Private Edward Dineley

Source: Beaconsfield Avenue of Honour: Servicemen remembered

Vincent Daly and his connection to Nar Nar Goon

This copy of  a post card of Vincent Daly was kindly donated to us from the Traralgon and District Historical Society*   We know from the verso of the card that Vincent was Killed in Action in 1916, that he was a  cousin of Tom Fitzgibbon** of Tyers (near Traralgon) and that he had a  connection to the Pakenham district.  Naturally I wanted to know what this connection to the local area was.

I started at the National Archives of Australia to discover the official information from his service record. His Service record (service number 2848) shows that Patrick Vincent Daly enlisted on July 2, 1915 at the age of 19. He was born in Dalyston and his next of kin was his father, also Patrick Daly, of Cloverdale, Dalyston. He had to get permission from his parents to enlist and this means we discovered his mother was Mrs E.C Daly.  Less than one year after he enlisted Vincent (it seems he was known to the family as Vincent rather than Patrick) was Killed in Action in France on May 15, 1916. 

Vincent's obituary from The Advocate of June 10, 1916

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151747110

So now we know the official information what we need to discover is what his Pakenham District connection is.  I looked up the Index to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages (access this here) and found Vincent was born in 1896 to Patrick James Daly and Elizabeth Catherine Dore. Once I found this out I was pretty sure that Elizabeth must have been connected to the pioneering Dore family of Nar Nar Goon, so then I did a search in the on-line newspapers on Trove and found the article reproduced below about the Will of John Dore, which clearly links Elizabeth Daly to John Dore and thus makes young Vincent John Dore's grandson. Lucky for us that there was no privacy issues 100 years ago and newspapers regularly reported the contents of Wills! I also found the lovely obituary of Vincent in The Advocate, (reproduced above) which gives us a fuller picture of him. 

Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Betty (nee O'Connor) Dore of Mt Ararat at Nar Nar Goon. In 1844, John Dore and Michael Hennessey took up the Mount Ararat Run at Nar Nar Goon of 1,900 acres. The partnership existed until 1855 when Hennessey moved to Dandenong. In the 1860s, Dore purchased the 640 acre Mt Ararat pre-emptive right. He later purchased another 387 acres and his son Thomas 300 acres so they held a total of 1,300 acres. The property was later bisected by the railway line when it was built in 1877. You can read more about  the Dore family here.

When John Dore died in 1895, his son-in-law who was also Vincent's father, Patrick Daly was one of the executor's of his will. John Dore's estate was left as a life interest to his son Patrick and his wife Kate and then after their death to his four daughters including Vincent's mother, Elizabeth Daly. Elizabeth was also left a block of land (it was 26 acres) in the Parish of Wonthaggi, where Dalyston is located.

Table Talk May 24, 1895

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145921610

*The post card of Vincent is part of the Eva West collection at the Traralgon & District Historical Society.  Eva (1888 - 1969)  became the Assistant Shire Secretary at Traralgon in 1924, and the Shire Secretary in 1935 and held this position until 1946.  She was awarded an MBE in 1958. I found this snippet of information on Trove from the Traralgon Record of December 29, 1916 -  At the Accountancy examinations  recently at the Melbourne University, Miss Eva West, of Traralgon, succeeded in passing  the last of the series of examinations necessary to qualify for admission to the Institute of Accountants, this being the first time that any lady in the State has obtained this qualification.....We heartily congratulate Miss West as right throughout the examination she maintained a position amongst the leading candidates. She was a real pioneer in her field.

**Thanks to Gippsland Historian, Linda Barraclough, for the following information - Tom Fitzgibbon of Tyers, who died in 1974 aged 90, is the son of the Ellen Fitzgibbon nee Dore, also mentioned in the will. A number of other photographs of soldiers in the collection appear to have originated from him, but seem more to be locals at Tyers, rather than family.

Celebrating the Armistice at Emerald in 1918

In this third post looking at how people in this region celebrated the end of the Great War in 1918, we will see how the townsfolk of Emerald marked the occasion. The following article is from the Camberwell and Hawthorn Advertiser of November 22, 1918. The article is on Trove and you can read it here and I have transcribed it, below.  To see how Nar Nar Goon, celebrated the Armistice, click here. To see how the Cranbourne Shire celebrated the Armistice, click here.

Camberwell and Hawthorn Advertiser  November 22, 1918

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article153117290

CELEBRATIONS AT EMERALD

At Emerald on Wednesday evening, November 13, a large number of the residents assembled in the local hall to celebrate the recent signing of the armistice. The gathering was most enthusiastic, and a programme of speeches and patriotic songs was gone through. The meeting opened with the doxology and the National Anthem. Messrs. Fairley and Dombrain spoke to the motion: -  'That this assemblage of Emerald citizens and loyal subjects of the British empire give heartfelt thanks to Almighty God for our deliverance from the enemy, and do express our great joy and delight at the success of the Allies and celebration of peace.' This was carried with acclamation.

Cr. Butcher moved, and Mr. Wilson seconded the following motion: -  'That we proclaim our loyalty to the King.' Further resolutions were also carried as follow: -  On the motion of Cr. Nobelius and Mr. McGibbon - 'That we extend our heartiest congratulations to the army and navy' ; on the motion of Messrs. Simpson and Hall - 'That we express our deepest sympathy with those who have lost relatives in this Great War' ; on the motion of Messrs McGibbon and Pascoe - 'That the best thanks of the meeting be tendered to the ladies of the Emerald Red Cross.'

In speaking to a motion of thanks to he chairman (Cr. Butcher), Cr. Nobelius impressed on the audience the desirability of bearing in mind our obligation to the men at the Front, and of making some fitting recognition of their services when the boys come home. The meeting closed with the National Anthem and cheers for the King.

I was surprised to find an article on Emerald  in the Camberwll and Hawthorn Advertiser, but Emerald was part of the Shire of Fern Tree Gully at the time, so it was more closely connected to the eastern suburbs.

This post looks at how Emerald celebrated the end of the Great War. To see how Nar Nar Goon, celebrated the Armistice, click here. To see how the Cranbourne Shire celebrated the Armistice, click here.

Celebrating the Armistice in the Cranbourne Shire in 1918

We are looking at how people in the area celebrated the end of the Great War.  In this post we will see how the children in the Shire of Cranbourne celebrated the momentous day.  To see how the Nar Nar Goon community celebrated Armistice Day, click here. To see how the people of Emerald celebrated, click here.

There was a full report in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of December 5, 1918 on the 'great day for juveniles' held to celebrate the signing of the Armistice.   The article is from Trove and you can read the full article here, but I have transcribed it below. It must have been an amazing experience for the children, many of whom would hardly have remembered  the time before Australia was at War and most of whom would have had  a soldier in their extended family.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal December 5, 1918

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66195176

PEACE CELEBRATIONS.

At Cranbourne

A Great Day for the Juveniles.

To celebrate the signing of the armistice,and the consequent cessation of hostilities between the Allies and their foes, the President of the Cranbourne Shire Council (Cr D. M. McGregor) decided to give a picnic to all the children in the shire on Wednesday, November 27. For this purpose the Shire was divided into three sections, centres being established at Cranbourne, Kooweerup and Lang Lang. The following schools attended at the Cranbourne centre :- Cardinia, Currum Downs, Clyde North, Cranbourne, Devon Meadows, Lyndhurst, Lyndhurst South, Pearcedale and Tooradin; a few children from Clyde were also present.

At 11 a.m. the young folk assembled at the Shire hall, and were lined up in fours to take part in the procession, which was headed by the Langwarrian Military band. The march was down Sladen street, along Codrington and Childers streets and up High street back to the Shire hall. This was well carried out, and the teachers were complimented on the fine display made. 

On returning to the Shire hall the children formed three sides of a hollow square round the Union Jack, which was flying from the recently erected flag-pole. The flag was saluted, the declaration made, and cheers given for our King, our Empire, our Commonwealth, and our own soldier boys. All present solemnly bowed their heads in silent remembrance of the lads who can never come back to us - our honored dead.

The Shire President then gave a short address, briefly stating the reasons for the rejoicings. He then introduced Chaplain Captain Gates, who gave a very interesting address on many phases of the war. The National Anthem and ‘Our Splendid Men’ were sung by the whole assemblage, the band leading the singing.

The children were then marched to the picnic-ground, where they were arranged in rows of fifties. A handsome medallion, bearing the inscription, ‘Shire of Cranbourne. Signing of Armistice, Nov. 11, 1918’ was handed to each child. 

Dinner was served, the good things provided were of first-class quality, and the local caterers, Messrs J. Taylor and J.Thorpe, were complimented, on all sides for the excellent viands supplied. 

After dinner, games and sports were indulged in during the afternoon. Races of all kinds for boys and girls were spiritedly contested and the judges, Messrs Callanan and McKenzie, had their work cut out to separate the winners from the rest. The sports were managed by representatives of the various school committees and teachers, with Mr J. H. White as starter. It was unanimously agreed that the kiddies had had a great afternoon.

Shortly after 4 o'clock all again wended their way to the picnic ground, where tea was  heartily partaken of. After enjoying a splendid meal each child was presented with a bag of sweets. Before dispersing ringing cheers were given for President McGregor for his kindly thoughtfulness in giving the children such an enjoyable time.  The President, in a few words, gracefully acknowledged the compliment. 

The merry-go-round was a great source of pleasure, not only to the juveniles, but also to ‘the children of a larger growth’, many elderly folk seeming to enjoy a ride as much as the little ones. 

The Langwarrin Military band played some very fine selections during the day, and added greatly to the enjoyment of the gathering. 

The picnic was a great success in every way. All the arrangements for the festivities were made by the local committee, of which Mr J. H. White was chairman and Mr D. A. Schulze, hon. secretary. The organization for the day was highly praised. All the details had been carefully planned beforehand, consequently everything worked with the most smoothness. The ladies of the town and district again proved themselves to be willing and efficient workers.

President McGregor was delighted with the success of the day's rejoicing, and no doubt feels exceedingly grateful to all, who in any way, helped to make the event what it truly was - a red letter day in the history of Cranbourne.

In this post we looked at Armistice celebrations in the Cranbourne Shire. To see how Nar Nar Goon celebrated the Armistice, click here. To see how Emerald celebrated the end of the Great War, click here.

Celebrating the Armistice at Nar Nar Goon in 1918

I thought we would have  look at how Armistice Day was celebrated in 1918. In this post we look at celebrations in Nar Nar Goon and in  two other posts we will look at how the Cranbourne Shire celebrated the end of the Great War (click here to read) and how the township of Emerald celebrated the Armistice (click here to read) 

This short article was in the Pakenham Gazette on November 29 1918

Pakenham Gazette  November 29, 1918

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92152288

The following week's edition (December 6)  had  a full report of the activities. The article is on-line on Trove and you can access the article here and I have provided a transcription, below. The day was highly successful with over 1,000 people attending the event, a huge amount of people, nearly everyone in the district must have attended.

Pakenham Gazette  December 6, 1918

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92152950

NAR NAR GOON

A PEACE CELEBRATION

Wednesday last was a red letter day in the history of Nar Nar Goon, the occasion being a public demonstration  and picnic in connection with the celebration of peace. 

The day was observed as a public holiday, all business places being closed, and it may be safely asserted that most of the residents of the district not only took part in the demonstration but did their best towards making it a success. 

About a fortnight ago the towns people decided that it was desirable that something should be done to mark their appreciation of the glad news that an armistice had been declared and that there was every indication of an early and lasting peace. An appeal was made for funds to meet the expenses of the celebration, and this met with a most generous response, about £50 being raised. 

Wednesday's event was a credit to the town and district, and it will always be looked back upon with interest. Both young and old entered into the spirit of the day, and as a result everything worked smoothly and all had an enjoyable outing.

The day's proceedings opened with a monster procession, which completely eclipsed anything of the kind ever seen in the district, comprising 130 vehicles and numerous horsemen. A number of the vehicles, including buggies, jinkers and lorries, were nicely decorated with greenery and flowers, and there was a profusion of flags, all the Allies being represented. 

An effigy of the Kaiser, the handiwork of Mr Mappin, of Tynong, was mounted on a horse. This was safe guarded by Master J. Ede, in the character of ‘ John Bull’,  and was a special attraction.

Space will not permit of a description of the various vehicles, but it may be said that all were  attractive, those of Mr E. Oram, representing ‘The Day’ and Mr J. Spencer, representing ‘Peace’ being worthy of special mention.

Amongst those with decorated vehicles were :- Messrs A. Harris, M. Dore, J. Mortimer, J. Mulcare, T. Eves, A. Thorn, J. Kenny, J. Gray, S. Collins, T. Garrett, J. Latta, R. Brooke, T. Grigg, E. Oram, J. Spencer, jun., and J. R. Spencer, the last named driving a fine team of four greys in a buggy. There was also a decorated motor, driven by Mr Donald. Some of the riders were in fancy costume. amongst the number being Miss M Raftis (Ireland) and Master Wadsley (England). 

The procession was formed into line at about 11 o'clock, and, headed by the Richmond Juvenile Brass Band, marched from the township to the place chosen for the day's picnic. 

Four returned soldiers, viz., Ptes. W. Comely, P. Neilsson and H. J. Lennon, of Tynong, and Pte. G. Bjursten, of Cora Lynn, held a prominent position in the procession. 

On arrival at the ground judging took place for prizes in connection with the procession, and the awards were as follows: 

Best decorated vehicle: Mr E. Oram, Tynong, ‘The Day’. 

Best Group: Nar Nar Goon. 

Most original character: Master Ede, Tynong, ‘John Bull’.

Special prize: The Kaiser. 

There were about 1,000 persons on the ground, and a sports programme was carried through, providing plenty of enjoyment for young and old.  A merry-go-round was provided for the children. 

Thanks to the excellent management of the committee and the cordial cooperation of all present, the celebrations throughout were a decided success.

In this post we looked at Armistice celebrations in Nar Nar Goon. To see how the Cranbourne Shire celebrated the end of the Great War,  click here. To see how the Emerald township celebrated the Armistice, click here. 

Irwin Brothers of Harkaway

This is another post about Brothers who enlisted - these are the Irwin Brothers of Harkaway. They were all born in Carlton to David Gray Irwin and Hannah Purser, who married in 1894. David and Hannah were farming at Harkaway but in 1918 moved to the suburbs (St Kilda, Caulfield areas) and he became a tramway employee, according to the Electoral Rolls. David died in 1928 aged 65 and Hannah died in 1934.

Dandenong Advertiser April 25, 1918

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88814737

Irwin, James Purser (SN 5035) James enlisted on January 20 1916 at the age of 20. He was a warehouseman. James served in France but  Returned to Australia on  August 27, 1917 and was medically discharged in January 1918 - he suffered from Psoriasis. In 1918 he married Daphne Idina (known as Ida) Mickle and they are  listed in the Electoral Rolls as living at Brighton for twenty years and then various other Melbourne suburbs, he was a Clerk.  James died in 1986. James' dairy recording his experiences in the War is held at the State Library of New South Wales and can be accessed here. He donated the diary to the Library in 1920. The Trustees of the Mitchell Library (as the State Library of N.S.W is known) started the Soldiers' Diaries Collection in 1918 - we are fortunate that they had the foresight to start this collection when many soldiers were still in possession of their diaries..

Irwin, Horace Mark  (SN 967) Horace enlisted on February 9, 1915 at the age of 18 years 8 months. He was an Orchardist.   David Returned to Australia on July 8, 1919. After the War, Horace married Mina Slater in 1922 and they lived in St Kilda and other suburbs.   Horace was a tramways employee, like his father, and died in 1972.

Irwin, Walter Gray (SN 968)  Walter enlisted on March 3 1915 at the age of 18 years and 7 months. He was  a farmer. Walter served at Gallipoli and Returned to Australia  February 8, 1916 and was discharged on medical grounds in the July of the same year. He suffered from 'Neurasthenia' which is now described as an obsolete term to cover lassitude, inability to concentrate, mental and or physical fatigue. Walter married Lena Petersen in 1918 and died in 1968. Walter and Lena lived in Bendigo and Tatura then in the mid 1930s moved back to Melbourne to Oakleigh. Walter was a 'traveller' or salesman.

Berwick Shire News July 12 1916

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92092893

A 'complimentary social' was held at Harkaway on July 8, 1916, with over 200 people present, to honour new recruits and also to welcome home Private Walter Irwin.

I can't quite work out the ages of Horace and Walter - according to the ages on their enlistment papers they were born two months apart which is clearly unlikely and the  Index to the Births, Deaths and Marriages says that Walter was born 1897 and Mark in 1896, so there was possibly  a mistake on the enlistment papers - if anyone knows the answer to this, I would love to find out.