Overview
How this Project Came to Be
As World War I drew to a close many communities were driven to record the sacrifices made across their local areas. Names were submitted by friends and families of these men and women that had served during the War. They were recorded on various monuments and honour roll boards around the district. As years have passed, the stories of the individuals whose names are found on these memorials have faded. The goal of this effort is to revive the stories of these men and women who sacrificed all they had for the greater good, and to make these stories freely available to their descendants and all of us who have benefitted from their trials.
With the approach of the centenary of the armistice, two groups who were dedicated to building and sharing the stories of these amazing men and women came together to combine their efforts, and generate this website to publish and share biographies of the service men and women from the greater Glen Eira area. These groups were the Caulfield RSL and the Honour Roll Project.
Caulfield RSL
Caulfield RSL started as a veterans club in 1916, it became an official branch of the Returned Services League, in February 1919. Since it's inception over 5,000 veterans of World War I have been members of this Caulfield Sub-Branch. Many of these returned service men and women later dispersed across Australia for various reasons, and a lot of them were patients at the Caulfield Military Hospital (11 AGH).
About the Brighton Cemetorians
The Brighton Cemetorians Inc [Friends of the Brighton Cemetery] are a not for profit group that was formed in 2005 with the aim of raising awareness of the Brighton General Cemetery. With the close proximity to the Caulfield Hospital / Caulfield Military Hospital [11AGH] many of the service persons who died there have been buried at the Brighton Cemetery. If you think or know that you have family buried at the cemetery email info@brightoncemetorians.org.
Honour Roll Project
The Honour Roll Project began in 2014 as a result of an initiative by the City of Glen Eira to rename streets in the Glen Eira area as part of Victoria's contribution to the national ANZAC Centenary Commemoration 2014-2018. Attention was given to the Glen Eira Honour Roll Boards, housed in the Glen Eira Town Hall, which comprises 1554 names of service men and women, and is unique in that it also includes those who returned, whereas it is more typical to find honour roll boards that commemorate only those whose lives were lost during the conflict. As there was no information in place on the several names on the Glen Eira Honour Roll boards, research was privately undertaken to develop biographies on each of the soldiers.
What You Can Find Here
This website houses several resources for the public. There is a Veterans Search where you can enter the name, rank and/or service number to find more information about any of the more than 7,000 veterans referenced here. There is also a page dedicated to the various Honour Roll Boards in the community, and an additional page dedicated to the Memorials that are also located in the Greater Glen Eira area, but do not actually list names.
Volunteers Needed
We are always in search of help to research and build the biographies of our ever-growing list of veterans. If you have time or information to share, please reach out.
Submitting Information
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following groups and organisations for their support of our vision:
- Hon. Michael Danby, MP, Federal Member for Melbourne Ports
- David Southwick, MLA, State Member for Caulfield
- City of Glen Eira
- Community groups of the greater Caulfield Area
- Glen Eira Historical Society
- Brighton Cemetorians Inc
Funding
This website has been made possible thanks to federal funding via the Department of Veterans Affairs Armistice Centenary Grants Program, with written support from the City of Glen Eira.
Notice
This information is made available for private use only. Special approval must be obtained from the Caulfield RSL Sub-Branch (and its successors and assigns) for any commercial or for-profit use of the information contained herein.