Services to remember them

FINAL preparations are underway for Anzac Day services in Ballarat on 25 April.

The Ballarat RSL’s annual 6am dawn service will be on at the Ballarat Cenotaph followed by a gunfire breakfast at Midlands Golf Club.

The lives of 17 men who have no known graves will be recognised in an 8am service at the Arch of Victory.

Their names are recorded on small memorials around the world which are not often visited by Australians.

This is why Garry Snowden, president of the Arch of Victory committee, said it is important to recognise their service.

“Of course, our service is about remembering all those men and women who have served our country, but at our Arch service we always try to give truth to the pledge ‘we will remember them’ by actually calling the names of some of those commemorated in our Avenue,” he said.

One of the men to be recognised is Golden Point State School student Jack Messenger, who was the first Ballarat serviceman to lose his life in World War One.

His service is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in England.

The other 16 men to be recognised in the service are Alfred Briant, Arthur Hughes, Ernek Jannsen, Charles Lucas, John McDonald, Albert Paulig, Alfred Possingham, George Merz, Harry Williams, Walter Waller, Albert King, William McCarey, James Galbally, Charles Richards, John Bryan Cuthbert and Lawrence Tait.

“Ballarat people are invited to attend the service and lay a tribute, and at the conclusion of our service there will be committee members on hand to assist any students who wish to place a poppy beside a name on the Memorial Wall,” said Mr Snowden.

Following this event, there will be a march down Sturt Street beginning at 10.30am organised by the Ballarat RSL.

A service will be held afterwards commencing at around 11am at the Ballarat Centopah.

There will be traditional games of two-up on in Creswick to commemorate ANZAC Day. Photo: FILE