EAGLEHAWK soldiers may have been the bravest central Victoria sent to World War I, according to a local historian.
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Researching the region's bravery awards Jack Coyne found the town was over-represented among the brave.
Mr Coyne began by researching the war history of a family member, named on the arch at the botanic gardens in White Hills.
He ended up researching all the 64 men named on the arch.
It took six months. Two had received bravery awards; one a Chinese man, the other the nephew of the Anglican bishop.
So Mr Coyne started to research all the long forgotten people from the region who had earned such commendations.
He noticed Eaglehawk was over represented among the number of people whose bravery had been awarded.
Thirty-eight out of about 900 soldiers from the town received awards.
In Bendigo 90 people were awarded, out of four or five thousand soldiers. A few of these awards were to nurses.
Mr Coyne said he couldn't know definitively why so many Eaglehawk soldiers received commendations.
But it was a working class suburb, with a real camaraderie, and fiercely independent of Bendigo, he said.
Six among the men he found had received not one, but two, bravery awards.
Some were "terrifically brave", he said. And many who did remarkable things have been forgotten.
Mr Coyne said it was rare for Australian soldiers to receive bravery awards, as they served normally under English officers.
To receive two bravery awards was "exceptional".
Among these men was Horace Clough, who must have prevailed against these conditions. A butcher born in Swan Hill, he was a well known Eaglehawk sportsman.
Mr Coyne said Clough's name was used to promote recruitment in the Bendigo Advertiser after he enlisted.
In 1917 he won a military medal as an ordinary soldier, before being promoted to officer, Mr Coyne said. This was earned for reconnoitering under cover of darkness, to spy on enemy lines.
In October 1918 Clough was awarded the Military Cross after taking command of his battalion after the officer in charge was killed, Mr Coyne said.
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