Sacrifice Made By People Not Forgotten
Many people reading this will have had family members serving in Australia’s armed forces. As family historians we believe, as the great majority of Aussies do, that the sacrifice that these people have made must not be forgotten. You only have to see the engagement that we have in Anzac Day to realise how important we think it is that the sacrifice made by these people and their families is not forgotten.
A project undertaken over the years by our Logan River Family History members is designed to keep alive the memory of these people in our community. Initially, Kevin Eagan and other members researched and published this information in 2009. Then Dianna Ottaway, over a number of years, extended this research. In her own words, this is what it entailed:
In 2009, Kevin Egan and several of our members researched the names on the Beenleigh War Memorial as the centenary of the First World War was coming up. They did a great job to put together a CD about the Memorial and the soldiers.
In about 2014, I came across this in our library and opened it up to have a look. I found that some of the software that was used back then isn’t available now and documents would not open. So, I decided to give it a little ‘tidy-up’. This little job has taken over 5 and a half years.
There were 61 names on the original memorial which was unveiled in 1925. After some research, it became obvious that there were a lot more people from the Beenleigh area who served. Sadly, their names were never put on the memorial. As my research went along, more names popped up demanding to be included, and the number of volunteers increased. There are still a few soldiers on a second list that may be researched in the future.
This project includes men and one woman from around the Beenleigh area, not just those who had Beenleigh as their birth- place or place of residence.
The stories focus on their daily lives rather than battles and battalions, telling a little of where they came from and, for those who returned, what they did following the war. I also wanted to include their final resting place. Sadly, some of our Anzacs still have unmarked graves. Perhaps one day, this sad situation will be corrected. The terminology used reflects that which was used on the records at that time, furlo instead of furlough, marched in and marched out, etc. There were cases of social diseases, these have not been mentioned in these narratives.
Thank you to the other researchers who helped me with this project, especially Diane Schulz.
Our society is interested in keeping alive the history of our families and our community and we welcome the input of people who would like to be involved in a project like this.
Perhaps a family member of yours is included in our Beenleigh War Memorial Project. You can check this by going to our website at www.loganriverfamilyhistorysociety.com and checking under the Resources menu. If you find someone of interest and would like to know more, please email us.
See you next month
Rob Thomson (President)
Logan River Family History Society
loganriverfhs@hotmail.com.au