WHILE some people boast about the foreign sights they’ve seen, Bacchus Marsh’s Heather Shugg appreciates what’s at home and all that was sacrificed in World War I to attain it.
Mrs Shugg’s father, John Chambers, and three of his brothers fought in the war and all have trees commemorating them along Bacchus Marsh’s Avenue of Honour.
Their lives were cut short, Mrs Shugg said, all dying before the age of 60. One of her uncles, Harold Chambers, died at 21 in the Gallipoli landing.
“When we were kids and the avenue was much younger too, we’d go and put flowers down at the tree since we didn’t have a grave for our uncle who was killed,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s silly to say a tree’s like a headstone, but to us it was because there was no grave to visit here.”
Mrs Shugg said although she has lived in Bacchus Marsh all her life, the avenue of tall elms still moves her.
“Every time I drive down there, I think about them and remember. The avenue’s very beautiful – whatever the season, whether it’s just the stark branches of the trees in winter or the shade of them in the summer.”
On August 10, Mrs Shugg will bring personal artefacts to the Bacchus Marsh Great War centenary committee’s awareness day.
The event, at Bacchus Marsh’s RSL hall from 10am, will include storytelling, photography displays, school artwork, biographies, audio-visual displays, a sausage sizzle and information about the Avenue of Honour. Groups involved include the RSL, National Trust, Moorabool council, local schools, historical societies and photography groups.
Details: 0417 339 795.
