The Mologa and District Landcare Group invites the community to attend its Anzac Day Ceremony at the World War I Memorial at Mologa at 8am on Saturday, April 25.
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The Mologa and District Landcare Group invites the community to attend its Anzac Day ceremony at the World War I memorial at Mologa.
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The group has transformed what was once an overgrown and neglected memorial into a fitting place for celebration and remembrance.
“Pictures don't always tell the whole story; you must be there to believe and see the change which has occurred,” Mologa and District Landcare Group president Bill Boyd said.
“You can feel the presence and spirit of peace when the ceremony is held.
“Old and young alike will think of the soldiers who have given us the security to live in peace, even if they paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
The group has published two books documenting the memorial's history, Faces to Names, which shows pictures of the soldiers on the memorial and tells their stories, and 100 Years of WWI Memorial at Mologa, which chronicles the memorial's construction from conception to unveiling and beyond.
The war memorial at Mologa commemorates 10 men from the small community who were killed in service during World War I, including three members of the Marlow family.
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McPherson Media Group
Mr Boyd explained the significance of the memorial.
“Mologa is due west of Echuca, on the opposite side of the Terrick Terrick National Park, between Mitiamo and Pyramid Hill,” he said.
“There are only four families left in Mologa, so not many people, but it is a big area.
“I think the memorial was built in 1920 for the Marlow family.
“There were 24 men from this area who went away to World War I and the Marlow family had five sons who went away and only two of them came back.
“Mrs (Sarah) Marlow unveiled the memorial in 1920 after World War I and it has been there ever since.”
The group's research efforts have been extensive.
“We have done a booklet on it now, all the names to faces that are on the memorial,” Mr Boyd said.
“It has taken us quite a few years to gather up everybody, because we had to go Australia-wide to find the families.
“Many of them had shifted away, as back in those times, many of them were only workers and they enlisted from Mologa.
“They had families, some down in the western districts, some in South Australia, some in NSW.
“Every now and then, we have a bit of a get-together and invite them all back when we have some sort of celebration.
“Then we get a pretty big crowd of people coming back.”
The annual service typically attracts 40 to 50 attendees, with many enjoying the barbecue afterwards.
The Landcare group's involvement began when proposals to relocate the memorial were made.
“What started it off was some of them wanted to shift it to Melbourne, but we objected, because no-one would know who the names on the memorial were,” Mr Boyd said.
“So, we put up a bit of a fight and stopped it.
“We have found out since that the land, there is no record on the titles office or anything like that.
“It is on community land, and it is owned by the Mologa community and the memorial can't be shifted.”
The transformation to the site has been significant.
“The Mologa Landcare group has planted all the trees around it,” Mr Boyd said.
“There was nothing there.
“It was just in the railway yard and there was a fence around it, which was all fallen down and everything.
“The Landcare group took up the aim to beautify it and make it respectful, because bus loads of people come every now and then and look at it.
“We get three or four bus loads a year.”
The ceremony will be held at 8am on Saturday, April 25.
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