April 2006 Lest We Forget With the approach of ANZAC Day on 25th April, this month I am reminded of how, what was then a very small community contributed so much to the war effort in all wars since we becme a settled area. I have not heard of any local being involved in the Boer War, or Boxer Rebellion and will be happy to hear from any reader if such is not the case. World War I saw the loss of two local lads who went overseas to assist, what was then called the "Mother Land", England. Edward Hunt Paten was born in 1896, the eighth child of Jesse and Eliza Paten who lived in 'Walton' which stood on the site of our now shopping centre. Edward was to be killed on active service in Belgium in 1917 at the young age of 21. AEdwin and Eliza (who was the eldest in a family of 19 children) Low, arrived in Australia from Essex in 1886 with their two sons. A further three sons and one girl were born on Australian soil. Arthur Edwin Low, the second son born in Australia, at the age of 22 in 1910, joined with 19 year old brother Robert and purchased 133 acres here in The Gap to establish the Ballarat Dairy, now part of the Parkdale Estate. Enlisting at the outbreak of WWI, Arthur lost his life in France, aged 27, in 1915. A casualty of WWII was Arthur Edward Chapman, one of six sons and one daughter of Alma and Wilfred Knight Chapman. Arthur's family had shifted to Payne Road, The Gap when their farm at the top of Ashgrove Hill (Glory Street) was partly taken for the tramline extension in May of 1935. With Arthur and Stan in the Airforce and Neville and Wilfred in the Army, a request to have one of his four sons exempt saw the release of Wilfred to help run the dairy farm. As rear gunner, Sgt. Arthur E. Chapman and the entire Lancaster crew were killed in his first operation over Europe in 1943. Arthur was aged 24 at the time of his death. Sadly no memorial exists in our district to these three heroes and it is of great significance that the governing committee of The Gap Returned Soldier's League have seen fit to remedy this situation. It is the intention of The Gap Sub-Branch RSL, to unveil a memorial plaque to these three servicemen at the forthcoming ANZAC Day ceremony on 25 April 2006 at The Gap Cenotaph, situated in Settlement Road (in front of the RiverCity Church), at 11am. In my book, Reflections II Memories of The Gap, a total of 32 pages are devoted to our suburb during the period of World War II, which contains an article on how the first ANZAC Day service was held at Walton Bridge on 25 April 1953. Mr. William J. Morton, a newcomer to the district, raised the question to our local Progress Association of the time - "Why is there no ANZAC Service in The Gap?". With a great deal of help from his wife Ruby, and the then newly formed local Scout Group who erected a bush flagpole complete with cross-arm, the following recollection sums up that important occasion: Our local MLA, the Hon. Ken Morris, a returned R.A.A.F. veteran, delivered the address, the Rev. G. Gibson came from St. Paul's Church of England Ashgrove to conduct the service. The Reading was given by Colonel J. Matthews of Kernel Street (off Payne Road), a retired Indian army officer. The music and the Last Post was provided by a tape especially put together by Vic Purnell of Payne Road, who also edited and printed our local news-sheet "The Black Stump". I am not aware of any old snaps recording the day and as Bill Morton was to organise The Gap ANZAC Day ceremony for the next 10 years, the assembly started at Settlement Road and marched to Walton Bridge with two pipers from the Red Heckle Pipe Band over the years, until eventually the parade was led by a full Band. Over a number of years, as a navy reservist, I marched behind those swirling pipes and well recall the after-march afternoon when many returned Gap servicemen and the band retired, for food and drink, to beneath the highset home of the Parer family, situated high on the hill above Moggill Road. When a local sub-branch of the RSL was formed, Bill Morton handed over organising the ANZAC Day ceremony to them, and the tradition continues to this day. This year marks the 53rd Anniversary of the first Gap Service. Photo of Service is courtesy of Connie Carnegie, widow of local man, Don Carnegie. Don, as a member of the Voluntary Militia, joined up when war was declared in 1939 as a Warrant Officer and served in Singapore before being captured in Malaysia and being a POW in Changi. Don worked on the Burma Railway for three and a half years prior to his release and returning home in 1949. Don was also a noted Gap historian. His mother, Lucie, helped found the Prisoners of War Association in Queensland, the aims of which were to get any news of missing or killed service men and women to their next of kin. © Hot Metal Publications