How we remember them

IF the stories heard at local Anzac Day services spark your curiosity this Monday, why not continue the learning at the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute on Thursday, 28 April.

Complementing the Heritage Reading Room’s current exhibition Ballarat Anzacs, World War One researcher and Arch of Victory-Avenue of Honour committee president Garry Snowden will make a presentation, How Ballarat Remembers its Anzacs.

“Most Ballarat people, if asked how our Anzacs are remembered, will first think of our Arch of Victory and Avenue of Honour,” he said.

“The last presentation in this Ballarat Anzacs series will look at some of Ballarat and district’s lesser-known memorials and some of the stories prompted by them.”

The city’s many honour boards and some rarely noticed memorials, plaques and avenues will be highlighted.

“The memorials and plaques are interesting, but what I find more interesting are the human stories connected to the names they carry,” Mr Snowden said.

“One of those stories relates to the heroism of a nurse who lived and trained in Ballarat but who does not have a tree in our Avenue, while another tells of two brothers who grew up in the Ballarat Orphanage who were killed in the same week at Pozieres in France.”

Mr Snowden will also explore what it was like for a family in Ballarat to receive the news that their loved ones had been wounded in action.

Entry is free for the 40-minute talk at 11.00am on Thursday, 28 April. Registrations can be made at bit.ly/3uTrf59, although this is not necessary.