Ballarat bravery in Passchendaele honoured

OCTOBER of nineteen-seventeen saw thirty-two Ballarat men killed at war in Passchendaele, Belgium.

Each man will be recognised at an 11am service on Sunday, 13 October at the Arch of Victory.

Garry Snowden, President of the Arch of Victory – Avenue of Honour Committee said most of these soldiers died at the Battle of Poelcappelle, fighting in a sea of mud where people and horses got bogged, and drowned.

Byron Fitzgerald Nicholas was one of Passchendaele’s casualties, a state school teacher and former captain of the St Patrick’s College football team, who enlisted in the army a month before his brother, George “Matson” Nicholas.

“The brothers both served at Gallipoli where Matson sustained a serious wound to his arm near the end of the campaign,” Mr Snowden said.

After the Gallipoli evacuation, the pair served with the 24th Battalion in France, but Matson was killed in action at Flers on 14 November, 1916.

“Bryon was commissioned as a lieutenant and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery while repelling a German attack at Bapaume in April 1917,” Mr Snowden said. “Sadly, Mary Nicholas was to lose a second son when Bryon was killed in action at Passchendaele on October 9th, 1917.”

Remembering the selflessness of local service personnel is a crucial element of the committee’s work.

“We hope these occasional services give Ballarat citizens the opportunity to formally commemorate the sacrifice of these men,” Mr Snowden said. “We need to remember that they were ordinary men with connections to our families, our streets, our neighbourhoods, our local schools and our local sporting clubs.

“Just imagine the impact felt in our community as news of their deaths reached Ballarat.”

Mr Snowden encourages anyone who feels a sense of connection to attend the service. They may lay a floral tribute in memory of a soldier.

“Eighteen of these men have no known grave, so they’ve never had flowers placed at their headstones,” he said.

Walter Newton Anderson, William James Armstrong, Thomas Francis Bailey, Thomas Charles Herbert Britt, Andrew Buxton Brittlebank, Ronald Matheson Doull, Michael Doyle, Robert Henry Ferguson, George Christian Fraser, John Leonard Groat, Stanley Alexander Heathcote, Harry Spencer Holgate, Leonard Gordon Clark Kyle and Thomas Cuthbert Morrow, Lewis Charles Mudie, Norman Crosbie Nicoll, James O’Keeffe, James Henry Peasnell, Arthur Ernest Reece, George Rogers, John Dougald Scott, Herbert James Semmens, Frederick Charles Shingler, Bertram Clarence Shortridge, Clifford Charles Smerdon, George Thomas Thistlethwaite, Stanley John Thomas, John William Wearmouth, Edwin John White, Alfred Williams, Jack Berryman Wrigley and Byron Fitzgerald Nicholas will be acknowledged.