The human stories of Ballarat’s Anzacs

THE Ballarat Anzacs exhibition will be presented in the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute’s Heritage Reading Room in April.

Opening this Monday, Arch of Victory-Avenue of Honour Committee president Garry Snowden said it will feature story boards, photographs, historic ephemera, memorabilia from the Ballarat Ranger Military Museum, and miniature statues.

His aim is to give the community an insight into the Ballarat people and personalities who became Anzacs.

“I’m always keen for people to get a better understanding of the human stories associated with the Avenue. When we say, ‘we will remember them,’ this exhibition is about ‘them’,” he said.

“They weren’t robots or movie characters, they were ordinary Ballarat folk, including 56 nurses who are commemorated in our Avenue of Honour.

“In the exhibition, we have stories on a general cross-section of soldiers, the Lucas Girls, nurses, tunnellers, and some of our 46 sets of brothers commemorated in our Avenue who lost their lives.”

The BMI’s cultural development and services manager Mark Potter said the exhibition is a chance for the Institute to showcase historical items in their collection, and their spectacular Heritage Reading Room.

“We want to remind the community that we have this amazing research facility, and encourage younger audiences into the BMI,” he said.

Each Thursday at 11am from 7 April to 28 April, a presentation relating to a different Ballarat Anzac theme will be made in the BMI Library. Speakers will include historians Yvon Davis, Phil Roberts, and Mr Snowden.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays until the exhibition closes on 28 April, Mr Snowden will be available in the Heritage Reading Room, alongside Ms Davis and Ballarat Ranger Military Museum manager Neil Leckie.

From 12pm to 2pm, they will help members of the public with any Anzac family history queries they may have.

The presentations are free, but attendees are encouraged to register at ballaratmi.org.au/events, where there is also information about each talk’s individual theme.