FEATURE - Remembrance and Community

by Doug and Cate Patterson, Montville History Group

Unlike many recent conflicts, WW1 was a righteous war. England was threatened and the Empire leapt to its defence. In Montville, young men declared themselves willing to enlist and within days, community support saw the formation of a Montville Patriotic

Committee and a Montville Branch of the Australian Red Cross in 1914. 

The objectives of the Montville Patriotic Committee included organising public ceremonies to acknowledge the enlistment of the local men and to farewell them. 

The committee also prepared and presented an enlistment gift that included items of clothing such as gloves, socks and beanies/balaclavas, and a propelling pencil and note paper

They supported the families of enlistees, acknowledged the service and sacrifice of enlistees, supported enlistees on medical, compassionate leave, and supported the repatriation of enlistees.

This wasn’t all the committee did, they also welcomed home returning enlistees , supported the social re-engagement of enlistees with the community, created a Memorial to honour their service and sacrifice, and raised funds to meet these objectives.

The Montville Patriotic Committee also worked closely with the Australian Red Cross to prepare gift parcels of clothing and food for Montville enlistees. 

Alice Negus, wife of Os Negus, was the secretary for the Montville Branch of the Red Cross Society in 1919 and became President in 1920.

Members of the Montville Patriotic Committee, listed in 1917, included W.H. Harvey (President), William Skene, Alf Bowser (Vice-President), F.W. Thompson (Secretary), T.H. Brown (Honorary secretary), A.O.  Suthers (Vice-President), Lorne Stupart, J.H. Barkell,

Les Swain, John Mannion (Honorary Auditor), G.E. Brown (Honorary Auditor), J Tinning (Treasurer), G. J. Butt, Henry Smith, Monty Dart, P. Short, and E. W. Vining, Mesdames Thompson, Skene, Suthers, and Misses Bowser and Chancellor.

Farewell ceremonies usually took the form of dances or concerts with formal speeches and presentations in the School-of-Arts Hall or in local schools.

When the first casualties of the enlistees occurred and men were repatriated home, the committee wanted something to honour their service and sacrifice. It commissioned a medal, the Montville Medallion, for every Montville enlistee and the families of those who died through this conflict. 

The Montville Medallion predates the later British Medal awarded to Empire soldiers.

The Patriotic Committee was fortunate that a Montville elder, Edward (Ted) Smith had retired to Birtsmorton, England.  Ted was in a position to host a number of Montville men recuperating from wounds or on recreation leave during the war. Later, his brother, Henry

Smith, conducted a range of activities to help returned Montville men re-engage with their community.

The welcome home celebrations were extravagant affairs including music, partying and feasting with the formal presentation of the Montville Medallion. 

During the period of the Great War, the Montville patriotic Committee raised £1200 (around $20,000 today).

The penultimate act of the Patriotic Committee was to design, commission and build a memorial to remember and honour the service and sacrifice of their men throughout World War One.

The Montville Memorial Gate was an active memorial at the entrance to the School-of-Arts Hall. Everyone attending an event in the hall had to pass through this memorial gate and was reminded of the service and sacrifice of family members, friends and neighbours.

The Montville Memorial Gate is one of the earliest surviving community memorials and predates the highly stylised, more formalised and less relevant later memorials. 

All too often, Remembrance ceremonies focus on those who fought and overlook those who ‘kept the home fires burning’. The Montville Patriotic Committee epitomises a community that supported their men fighting a righteous war.

 (In September 1939 T. H. Brown called for the reconvening of the Montville Patriotic Society.)