By Callum Ludwig
After nine years of planning and advocating, the Millgove Residents’ Action Group (MRAG) were able to officially open their Avenue of Honour on Saturday 1 July, immortalising five more men from Millgrove who died in the Great War.
Nine men from Millgrove in total died in World War One, with the other four already recognised with trees and plaques in Wesburn’s Avenue of Honour.
MRAG Secretary Bob Lillie was influential in the push for the project and said the original Avenue of Honour in Millgrove consisted of about 26 trees.
“The parents of one of the dead soldiers organised it but in 1934, there were big floods in Millgrove and it was very badly damaged. Basically, it just fell apart and everybody forgot about it, there’s probably some trees left, but no one had ever known,” he said.
“They’re all getting rather old and probably quite decrepit so in 2014, we decided to put in a new Avenue of Honour and after working with the RSl, they suggested we look at the Millgrve people who died.”
The original Avenue of Honour was opened in 1919 with memorial plaques on gum trees, which got washed away by the flooding.
Mr Lillies said MRAG members felt they owed it to the people who built the original Avenue of Honour to revive it.
“It hasn’t been looked after and has disappeared and I don’t know what the statistics are, but there would’ve been hundreds of them planted and I believe the numbers of the original ones left are limited,” he said.
“We wanted to honour our Millgrove people who died.”
The official opening was held on 1 July to align with the beginning of the coincide with the Battle of the Somme in France that started on the same date in 1916, which is where Arthur Norman Platt died.
The following Millgrove men are now memorialised in the Avenue of Honour:
Henry Clifford Binks, Killed In Action 12 October 1918 in Belgium
Clarence Victor Chapman, Killed In Action 28 May 1917 in Messines, Belgium
Henry George Cook, Killed In Action 23 December 1916 in Somme, France
Walter Joseph Leach, Killed In Action 5 October 1918 in Montbrehain, France
Arthur Norman Platt, Killed In Action 28 August, 1916 in Mouquet Farm, Pozieres, France.
The following four Millgrove men feature in the Wesburn avenue:
Charles Edward Buller, Killed in Action 19 September 1917
Arthur Archibald Buller, Killed in Action 11 May 1917
A E Buller, Killed in Action 18 April 1918
Edwin Charles Buller, Died of wounds 19 September 1917
The opening was attended by Casey MP Aaron Violi, Eildon MP Cindy McLeish, Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Jim Child, MRAG members and other local residents.
“The dedication of the new Millgrove Avenue of Honour marks the conclusion of an eight year plus project by the Millgrove Residents Action Group, Warburton RSL and wider community,” Mr Violi said.
“It’s a credit to the Upper Yarra community that despite damage to the Avenue of Honour throughout the years, the community is dedicated to ensuring the memory of our fallen is never forgotten.”
