IT WAS an interest in history and a family connection to the military that drove Alice Carpenter to donate her time to shedding light on the stories of Bendigo’s Diggers.
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The 14-year-old Bendigo South East College student has been working with the volunteers at Remembrance Parks Central Victoria, researching graves in Bendigo Cemetery that belong to the families of killed service people.
Of particular interest are the Dead Man’s Pennies placed on some headstones.
Volunteer Greta Balsillie explained that these medallions were given to the families of those killed overseas in World War I.
With their loved ones buried in foreign lands, the families would sometimes place the Dead Man’s Penny on the family graves, to acknowledge their memory.
Alice said others would choose to inscribe their family member’s details on the headstone, while other graves made no mention of the lost kin.
She said she felt it was important to preserve these stories.
“It’s part of history, and it should be remembered, even if it’s just in a cemetery,” Alice said.
Her research helped inform an Anzac tour at the cemetery.
She also helped make tributes – sprigs of rosemary tied with the Australian and New Zealand flags – to hand out at pre-Anzac Day services and to place on the graves of service people’s families during the cemetery’s Anzac tour.
Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
