Honour boards mark Shire’s service history

THERE are many century-old World War One honour boards across the Ballarat and Geelong region, recognising servicepeople from small communities.

In recent years, the Geelong Honours Them project has seen members of the public find, photograph and digitally document as many of these as possible, including many in the Golden Plains Shire.

Project manager Mark Beasley said there are 50 honour boards from the Shire documented on the website and 12,000 names overall, with more boards to be added in the coming weeks as volunteers travel to snap pictures.

“They are amazing pieces to look at. Each one is really different. The designs and looks are part of the beauty of the boards in their varying forms,” he said.

“There are some boards for primary schools that don’t exist anymore. One in the Maude Tennis Club represents a school that changed names a few times and that’s got names of people who were pre-turn-of-the-century students.

“Werneth schoolboys’ honour board, for example, has been fantastic to recognise, letting people explore it and find it. They’re a fantastic resource for historians that you can’t find elsewhere.”

Lethbridge, Lethbridge State School, She Oaks State School, Woady Yaloak, Scarsdale and district, Scarsdale State School, Cape Clear State School, Rokewood Junction, Corindhap, Grand Trunk State School, Bamganie State School, Tableland and District State School, Inverleigh’s Independent Order or Rechabites, the Shire of Buninyong and Garibaldi are all communities with boards currently logged on the site.

Bannockburn, Pitfield Plains State School, Steiglitz State School, Murgheboluc District and School, the past scholars of Maude, Sutherlands Creek and She Oaks State schools, St Paul’s Church Linton, the Old Lintonians Association, Dereel State School and district, Lower Leigh School and district, Moorabool Presbyterian Church, Batesford Presbyterian Church, and Smythesdale Methodist Church and Sunday School are also represented.

Linton State School, Linton Methodist Sunday School, Linton Presbyterian Church, Inverleigh Parish, Inverleigh and district, Inverleigh State School, Inverleigh Presbyterian Church, Shelford Presbyterian Church, Cressy and district, Weering State School, Cressy State School, Corindhap Old Scholars, Werneth and district, Rokewood, Meredith State School, Meredith district and Shire of Leigh boards are also visible on the database.

Mr Beasley said the Anzac and Great War remembrance project first began about 15 years ago.

“Volunteers and members of the Geelong Family History Group did a piece of work surveying honour boards across the region; Golden Plains Shire, Surf Coast Shire, Queenscliff and the Colac Otway Shire.

“They recorded the name of the honour boards and the names of the people listed, but they didn’t photograph them, and they didn’t note whether the boards had been seen in person, or if information was found from a different resource, but they compiled this big list,” he said.

A decade ago, when the History Group gave the database to the Geelong Heritage Centre, Mr Beasley got thinking about how it could be best utilised, also mindful of the upcoming centenary of Anzac.

“I wanted to focus on, and capture, the World War One honour boards and try and find out what else was out there.

“The World War One honour boards were of interest because they’re not easily accessible. They’re hidden away or inside facilities, they’re not like outside war memorials you can visit,” he said.

“There’s an element of mystique about them, so we thought we’d locate where they are, photograph them digitally, make those available on a website and locate the social history the boards contain.”

For those involved, including members of three community camera clubs, their volunteer work is playing an important role in linking rural communities – like the townships of Golden Plains – for generations to come.

“Honour boards connect communities with the people who were from the communities of times gone by, whether they were part of our primary schools, sporting clubs, churches, Sunday service groups, or the local shires,” Mr Beasley said.

“We’re creating a legacy, to make sure those honour boards will be available for the next 100 years, so people can look back, access that social history and connect with the people involved.”

Volunteers are making the most of visiting the homes of honour boards across the Shire, including places some have never been before, like Linton and Smythesdale in the north.

“They’ve enjoyed going there, meeting people on-site who provided them access to places, and it’s a new community connection they’ve made,” Mr Beasley said.

“They’re discovering another chapter of the Anzac history, and are adding to a thread of community engagement and involvement which started over 100 years ago.”

The website hasn’t logged all the area’s boards yet. They’re always seeking more.

“Some are missing which are probably never going to be found, but the community has helped us locate a lot.

“We’ll be out to capture 20 in the coming weeks. One at Lethbridge Hall, for example,” Mr Beasley said.

Geelong Honours Them is an initiative of the Geelong Regional Libraries group and has been financially boosted by the State Government’s Victoria Remembers Major Grant program.

Browse the boards and names at geelonghonoursthem.grlc.vic.gov.au.