If you compare the surnames on the war memorial of nearly every country town with the surnames on the land ownership records of the time, the lists are nearly identical. Yes, country towns contributed far more than their share of young men to WW1. There’s a reason so many have an Avenue of Honor of oak trees or similar. Even though a lot of these are damaged by time they still survive.
My grandfather was on the commission that set up the war memorials for Vic & NSW country towns and the papers in his estate are grim reading. So many young men that never came back. Including his 4 older brothers. He was the only boy in his family of 9 sibs that came back. My grandmother - of her 5 brothers only 2 came back, one so badly disabled that he could not work. Which in those days was saying something.
If you compare the surnames on the war memorial of nearly every country town with the surnames on the land ownership records of the time, the lists are nearly identical. Yes, country towns contributed far more than their share of young men to WW1. There’s a reason so many have an Avenue of Honor of oak trees or similar. Even though a lot of these are damaged by time they still survive.
My grandfather was on the commission that set up the war memorials for Vic & NSW country towns and the papers in his estate are grim reading. So many young men that never came back. Including his 4 older brothers. He was the only boy in his family of 9 sibs that came back. My grandmother - of her 5 brothers only 2 came back, one so badly disabled that he could not work. Which in those days was saying something.
so sad 😔