The two photos below have been taken from almost the same position and you can see in the first some of the buildings that used to be there in the 1920s. Great-uncle Ray Leed was killed in France and Great-uncle George Leed served in France. Both are named on the memorial. In fact for such a small community there are a lot of names on the memorial and this is repeated all over Australia.
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| Mologa war memorial (Alford family album) |
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| War Memorial, Mologa (2013) Photo: Tim Fitzgerald http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/ww1/display/32659-mologa-war-memorial |
Not far away from Mologa is the town of Mitiamo. At the time of the first world war it was bigger and busier than it is now but it hasn't disappeared like Mologa has, and the community at Mitiamo also installed a memorial. I remember reading somewhere that this memorial is unusual in that it has a female sculpted figure - presumably she represents something or other and is not just there to look pretty. She seems to be holding a basket of fruit or vegetables.
Grandpa Roy Phelan (at right in the photo below) served in France in WW1 and his name is on the memorial. And so are the names of his two sons, Neil and Keith, who served in WW2.
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| Mitiamo war memorial (Phelan family album) |
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| Mitiamo war memorial (Phelan family album) |
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| Mitiamo memorial as it looks now. More information here: http://en.tracesofwar.com/article/8643/War-Memorial-Mitiamo.htm and here: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvsac/Mitiamo_War.htm |
A fine selection of memorials which quite rightly hold an important place.
ReplyDeleteSuch memorials are also a regular part of the landscape of most towns and villages in this country as well. It is a pity that they are necessary, but a good thing that the sacrifice of those whom they recall is remembered.
ReplyDeleteHi Lorraine - I enjoyed reading about the war memorials. I had to find a map http://goo.gl/maps/OikH1 -so I now know your towns are west of Echuca. I thought the early photograph of the war memorial compared with the present day most interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have a book on War Trophies from World War 1. Billett, Bill War trophies : from the First World War 1914-1918. Kangaroo Press, East Roseville, N.S.W, 1999. http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/10568348 After the war guns captured by the AIF were presented to Australian towns. They had to sign an agreement to preserve them and appoint a committee. I think machine guns might have been handed in during World War 2 for melting down and contributing to that war's efforts but I am not sure and it will have varied by town. Theft might be the answer in the case of Mitiamo.
Regards
Anne
Nothing is quite so powerful as a war memorial. Names etched in marble or bronze really humanize war for those of us who never experienced it first hand.
ReplyDeleteVery thoughtful, even if it is a bit different to what you were suggesting you might do on Wednesday I think :-)
ReplyDeleteI've been admiring the metalwork on the support for that machine gun -- isn't that ironic? Beautiful wrought iron for a deadly machine?
ReplyDeleteThe small suburban village where I grew up had a war memorial with names. There weren't even many people living there until after WWII. I don't think it is still there.
ReplyDeleteSo sad to see small towns disappear as though they never existed.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of Mologa. Was it a mining town?
ReplyDeleteHow sad to have 3 people from the one family die in wars.
The photo of the Mitiamo war memorial with the gun is a beauty.
There's something about these pictures and the emptiness surrounding those monuments.
ReplyDeleteMakes one wonder who would remember these fallen heroes [and the surviving ones too]
if everybody is now long gone...
Beautiful pictures!!
I wonder if the Australian troops were well prepared for what was ahead
or if they were strategically placed as "sacrificial lambs" or bait,
as I'd rather not used the expression "cannon fodder"...
The same could have been said of Canadian troops back then
as they also suffered heavy casualties.
:/~
HUGZ
Interesting memorials, I also wonder what or who the female figure represents.
ReplyDeleteYou might find the Places of Pride entries for the Mitiamo War Memorials interesting:
ReplyDeletehttps://placesofpride.awm.gov.au/memorials/205351
https://placesofpride.awm.gov.au/memorials/205391