AN idea to commemorate the centenary of World War One has led to a monumental road trip for Julie Millowick.
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The La Trobe University Bendigo senior lecturer has spent her spare time and holidays traversing Australia photographing World War One monuments.
With the help of some trusty assistants as well as the local communities, Ms Millowick has so far photographed more than 80 memorials - her target is 100.
Ms Millowick and fellow La Trobe senior lecturer Geoff Hocking will photograph, write and design a book, which is due for released by Remembrance Day next year.
Each monument has its own unique story.
"About 18 months ago I thought photo-journalism at La Trobe should do something for the centenary of World War One," she said.
"I knew I wanted to do something that would humanise the people who went (to war)."
Ms Millowick's idea quickly gained traction when she found her first story and presented it to the university.
"I started in Chewton and found a really interesting story about a guy who was in the trenches in Belgium," she said.
"He was hit with shrapnel that went right through his body.
"But over his heart he had a wallet full of photographs that were printed on thick cards.
"That wallet was in his chest pocket stopped two pieces of shrapnel that would have gone into his heart."
It took Ms Millowick six weeks to find the man's daughter (now 86).
"Geoff Hocking and Chris Atkins liked the idea and Geoff suggested we do 100 monuments and cover all the letters in the alphabet," Ms Millowick said.
The last leg of monuments will see Ms Millowick and her assistant Laurie Davies travel from Western Australia, across the Nullabor Plain, to South Australia.
She has just 18 monuments left to visit.
"It's just been fantastic support by the students and staff," she said.
"When the February deadline rolls around, I'm going to really miss it."
It is easy to understand why Ms Millowick will miss the project.
"It's really hard photographing them," she said.
"One that was a real challenge was Blinman, the highest town in South Australia. It's on top of a hill, no matter where you are in Blinman, you can see it.
"It was built by school children and I had to climb up there at 7am in the morning, over all these pointed rocks with camera bags, tripods and battery packs. But it was fantastic, a wonderful panorama of the Flinders Ranges."
Ms Millowick said there was also a wide range of monuments that were personal to each community.
"When we selected the 100, we looked at thousands and thousands of memorials," she said.
"We were looking for architectural diversity. Some are memorial halls, some are soldiers on a plinth and some were drinking fountains."