Celebrating the Soldier Settlement centenary

THE one hundred-year anniversary of Mannibadar’s Soldier Settlement will be marked next month.

On Sunday, 6 June, a community celebration involving the adult children and descendants of original settlers will be held at the Mannibadar Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, with formal proceedings from 2pm.

A large brass plaque will be unveiled, embedded into a granite boulder from committee member Stephen Holding’s family property, a centenary cake will be cut, and displays and photographs in the Hall can be viewed.

“The plaque features an original map of the settlement area of the Parish of Mannibadar, and it’s accompanied by a list of the names of those original settlers, plus a few that followed in the couple of years after the initial settlement in 1921,” Mr Holding said.

“Not only does the plaque represent the centenary, it provides a focal point for remembering servicepeople from World War One that happened to settle in the district afterwards.”

Mr Holding is one of six connected locals on the committee, and is the grandson of an original Mannibadar soldier settler, who had been a Beaufort district local pre-war.

“Following World War One, in order to provide employment and opportunity for returning service people, there was a system called the Closer Settlement Scheme, more commonly known as the Soldier Settlement Scheme.

“That’s where large property holdings were reclaimed, divided up and sold, under lease arrangements, to returned serviceman. This was fairly widespread in western Victoria,” Mr Holding said.

“This particular centenary is for what was the Parish of Mannibadar in the Mount Bute Estate, which prior to World War One was a very large pastoral property from Linton to Derrinallum, owned by an absentee landowner.”

The Estate was divided into approximately 123 allotments, of which the Parish of Mannibadar is one in the top end of the area. Prior to the war, Mannibadar was not a highly populated area.

The celebration will be held between 1pm and 4pm, with refreshments provided. Organisers have received many RSVPs, and the event is already at its restricted attendance capacity of 250 people.