Expert to share history of the Bacchus Marsh military

MILITARY historian Neil Leckie will be at Lerderdeg Library later this month to discuss the history of the Bacchus Marsh ‘Army’ from 1858 to 1921 and beyond.

The BacchChat will focus on the heritage of the military in Bacchus Marsh, including key events and figures and its connections to Ballarat.

Mr Leckie will also demonstrate how to research family members’ war service records.

“If you don’t learn from history, you will make the same mistakes,” he said.

“Every country needs a defence force, so if people know the history of the local part of the defence force, it can give them more of an impetus to want to join.”

Mr Leckie served in the Army and Army Reserve for 34 years, including as the executive officer of 8/7 RVR in Ballarat.

He retired in 2011 with the rank of major and remained the manager of the Ballarat Ranger Military Museum.

Mr Leckie was a volunteer tour guide at Gallipoli on the Western Front from 2010 to 2018, and has written a book about 150 years of the army in Ballarat called Country Victoria’s Own: 150 years of 8/7 RVR and its predecessors.

Mr Leckie said he hopes the talk will boost awareness of local military history.

“The Army sort of bubbles along in the background and people don’t know it’s there,” he said.

“We’ve got Army Reserve depots in Ballarat and in many regional Victorian towns… people know about the headquarters in Ballarat, but they don’t know that all these other Army depots exist.”

The event will be on Saturday 31 May from 10am until 11am.

To register, visit the Moorabool Shire Council website.