Jane Ross and Christine Grayden call for a brief pause to remember the harsh reality of war for so many service people and civilians.
A century of Legacy
Phillip Island San Remo Legacy Widows’ Club president Marian Brennanwith members Dianne Holtrop and Maureen Matthews in their
Legacy Centenary Torch Relay tops.
By Jane Ross
Fear not that you have died for naught;
The torch you threw to us we caught!
Those evocative words from a poem called ‘The Answer’, written in response to Lieutenant Colonel John McRae’s equally emotive ‘In Flanders Fields’, encapsulates the impetus for the formation of Legacy.
A uniquely Australian organisation, Legacy has been assisting war widows and their children for the past 100 years. The spirit of Legacy is service and the torch is its symbol.
Legatees pause to reflect on Remembrance Day (November 11) but theirs is an enduring quest for homage to those who fought to preserve our freedom.
Fear not that you have died for naught;
The torch you threw to us we caught!
Those evocative words from a poem called ‘The Answer’, written in response to Lieutenant Colonel John McRae’s equally emotive ‘In Flanders Fields’, encapsulates the impetus for the formation of Legacy.
A uniquely Australian organisation, Legacy has been assisting war widows and their children for the past 100 years. The spirit of Legacy is service and the torch is its symbol.
Legatees pause to reflect on Remembrance Day (November 11) but theirs is an enduring quest for homage to those who fought to preserve our freedom.
This part of the world is important in the Legacy story because its founder, Lieutenant General Sir Stanley Savige, spent his formative years in Korumburra.
For that reason, South Gippsland Legacy Group has been proud to celebrate the wider movement’s centenary this year. One feature has been the inclusion of three widows in the Sale leg of the Legacy Centenary Torch Relay which began in France just before Anzac Day and has been traversing Australia since. The torch ended its journey on October 13, at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
For that reason, South Gippsland Legacy Group has been proud to celebrate the wider movement’s centenary this year. One feature has been the inclusion of three widows in the Sale leg of the Legacy Centenary Torch Relay which began in France just before Anzac Day and has been traversing Australia since. The torch ended its journey on October 13, at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
Maureen Matthews from San Remo, Dianne Holtrop from Cowes and Avis Tilley of Korumburra were delighted to represent South Gippsland Legacy at the Sale march. Avis, 98, was the eldest participant overall. Interviewed by WIN TV, she was later described by that media’s state editor as “a great talent”!
The women were escorted to Sale by three Legatees, Phil Head (group president), Amanda Ford and Perry Neil. Perry is Avis’s Legatee and she regards him as a son. “He’s wonderful!” she says.
South Gippsland Legatees also arranged a special commemoration at Coleman Park, Korumburra, in early September. The park hosts the town’s Cenotaph as well as the Stan Savige Memorial gates. Pipers and a drummer led a march of Legatees and members of the Great Australian War Association dressed in World War One army uniforms through those gates, and the commemoration ended with a moving ceremony where 100 candles were displayed on a tray decorated with red poppies.
South Gippsland Legacy was formed in 1949 and cares for war widows from Phillip Island to Yanakie. Fewer activities are arranged as the widows age, but each has a Legatee to support her through the vicissitudes of life. Legatees gain as much – if not more – than they give.
The women were escorted to Sale by three Legatees, Phil Head (group president), Amanda Ford and Perry Neil. Perry is Avis’s Legatee and she regards him as a son. “He’s wonderful!” she says.
South Gippsland Legatees also arranged a special commemoration at Coleman Park, Korumburra, in early September. The park hosts the town’s Cenotaph as well as the Stan Savige Memorial gates. Pipers and a drummer led a march of Legatees and members of the Great Australian War Association dressed in World War One army uniforms through those gates, and the commemoration ended with a moving ceremony where 100 candles were displayed on a tray decorated with red poppies.
South Gippsland Legacy was formed in 1949 and cares for war widows from Phillip Island to Yanakie. Fewer activities are arranged as the widows age, but each has a Legatee to support her through the vicissitudes of life. Legatees gain as much – if not more – than they give.
Researching two world wars
By Christine Grayden
In the lead-up to the centenary of the end of World War One in 2018, Phillip Island & District Historical Society life member John Jansson set himself the challenge of tracing every World War One serviceman who had left for war from Phillip Island, or come to live here after their war service. John’s commitment and thorough research resulted in tracing about 40 servicemen, their service records and, for many who returned, their lives after war. For this substantial body of research John was presented with an Anzac Medal at the Anzac Day ceremony at the cenotaph near the Cowes jetty in 2018.
Then, with Australia due to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific in September 2020, I undertook to fulfill the society’s grant commitment to research and make public in YouTube video form the service of Phillip Islanders during World War Two. The major resource for the project was a 1995 video of several hours of interviews with islanders who had either served or stayed behind to farm and help the war effort in other ways. Many of those who stayed joined the Volunteer Defence Corps, which patrolled the coasts in all weathers, and the Volunteer Air Observers Corp, who had to watch for and report any aircraft activity all day, every day.
While other society members concentrated on the huge job of packing up the museum displays and the entire collection to be placed in storage due to the Heritage Centre being demolished – and all during the Covid pandemic – I was struggling with the sudden onset of disabling illness. However, I did manage to research and produce a series of videos for the society’s YouTube channel, and essays for their website. I was greatly assisted by our son Simon Eddy, who the society paid to enhance the faded image and sound of the 1995 videos, and edit the footage.
It was slow going, as I have never tackled any war history before. Both Simon and I found it quite traumatic; even from the safety of our home, of necessity researching via the internet and from books due to the pandemic lockdowns. Phillip Islander Mary Bourke, author of Keeping the Spirit Alive, the story of the Phillip Island RSL, and Lynette Ramsay Silver, AM, war historian who specialises in the war in the Pacific, were incredibly generous in remotely sharing their research and writing with me.
In the lead-up to the centenary of the end of World War One in 2018, Phillip Island & District Historical Society life member John Jansson set himself the challenge of tracing every World War One serviceman who had left for war from Phillip Island, or come to live here after their war service. John’s commitment and thorough research resulted in tracing about 40 servicemen, their service records and, for many who returned, their lives after war. For this substantial body of research John was presented with an Anzac Medal at the Anzac Day ceremony at the cenotaph near the Cowes jetty in 2018.
Then, with Australia due to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific in September 2020, I undertook to fulfill the society’s grant commitment to research and make public in YouTube video form the service of Phillip Islanders during World War Two. The major resource for the project was a 1995 video of several hours of interviews with islanders who had either served or stayed behind to farm and help the war effort in other ways. Many of those who stayed joined the Volunteer Defence Corps, which patrolled the coasts in all weathers, and the Volunteer Air Observers Corp, who had to watch for and report any aircraft activity all day, every day.
While other society members concentrated on the huge job of packing up the museum displays and the entire collection to be placed in storage due to the Heritage Centre being demolished – and all during the Covid pandemic – I was struggling with the sudden onset of disabling illness. However, I did manage to research and produce a series of videos for the society’s YouTube channel, and essays for their website. I was greatly assisted by our son Simon Eddy, who the society paid to enhance the faded image and sound of the 1995 videos, and edit the footage.
It was slow going, as I have never tackled any war history before. Both Simon and I found it quite traumatic; even from the safety of our home, of necessity researching via the internet and from books due to the pandemic lockdowns. Phillip Islander Mary Bourke, author of Keeping the Spirit Alive, the story of the Phillip Island RSL, and Lynette Ramsay Silver, AM, war historian who specialises in the war in the Pacific, were incredibly generous in remotely sharing their research and writing with me.
 Charles ‘Nip’ West outside the church after his marriage with Bessie Forrest on October 16, 1940. After taking leave from the army to bring in the chicory crop after his brother Gordon came down with meningitis, Nip left soon after for the disastrous Malaya campaign where he was killed within days of entering battle. He died in battle at a barricaded bridge on the road to Parit Sulong on January 20, 1942. | I have no doubt that John also found his own research on the World War One servicemen to uncover more horrors than even he could have expected. When researching Alex McLardy’s experience, John read an account on the Australian War Memorial website that included the most telling of sentences: The 29th Battalion fought its first major battle at Fromelles on 19 July 1916. The nature of this battle was summed up by one 29th soldier: “the novelty of being a soldier wore off in about five seconds, it was like a bloody butcher’s shop”. Much research has been done and stories recorded around Bass Coast by historical societies, RSL branches, cemetery committees and others, to contribute to our understanding of the experiences of servicemen, and of those who waited at home. Even though many of us have not experienced war first-hand, we can still recognise that war causes tremendous suffering in many ways. Language is inadequate to express the feeling of terror and dread evoked during wars, but also in those of us now reading these accounts. |
So now Jane, on behalf of her wonderful Legacy ladies and Legatees, and John and I on behalf of all of the men and women we researched whose stories show the harshest realities humans can face brought about by war, we ask that you all take a few moments to pause at 11am on Saturday, 11th November, to give over your thoughts and feelings to all those around the world who have suffered, and continue to suffer, in the most destructive of human undertakings – war.