Our Group was honoured to be work with James Yeates Printing on the ‘Their Duty Done’ project. Twice a year, on Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November) the Bairnsdale Advertiser published an eight page lift-out honouring the men and women of East Gippsland who died as a result of World War One. We undertook the research for this supplement by compiling biographies and, where possible, finding photographs, of those who died. This list will be as complete and as comprehnsive as possible creating a whole of East Gippsland ‘Roll of Honour’ ensuring that each name is known. The biographies (there are many more than printed in the eight supplements), are available on the website we have created and dedicated to this purpose. Please follow this link to our sister website www.theirdutydone.com Here you will find, eventually, every one of the names, in excess of six hundred who died who had an association with East Gippsland.
Their Duty Done
A sample page from the lift out produced by the Bairnsdale Advertiser twice yearly in April and November.
With the upheaval that happened to families during 1914-1919 it is little wonder that some names were never included on district Honour rolls and memorials. In some instances the parents of a soldier who gave his life had also died before memorials were created. Families were destroyed and lost just as some of the names of those who served were likewise lost. This is our effort to find those lost names. It takes time, a lot of time, and as we are all volunteers this will go on for many years to come. Thousands of hours have already been spent trawling newspapers and archives for snippets of information to create accurate and interesting biographies of those who died. As a result of the work done to identify those who paid the supreme sacrifice we have collated thousands of names of those who served and returned. We hope, in due course, to create biographies, with images, of these individuals as well. Their names too, will be added to the website as a permanent legacy of their efforts. Do you have family with a connection to East Gippsland that served? If so, please contact our Group. We ask anyone with a personal story of family members who served in World War One, whether they lived or died, to contact us. You may have the photograph we are looking for, or letters that will give much more insight into their war experience, or simply a contact for someone else who might be able to help us. You may be able to help with our goal of sharing information and having complete individual stories for future generations.
East Gippsland Family History Groupinc.