Almost 200 First World War servicemen have finally been added to one of Australia's earliest war memorials, more than a century after their names were left off. The 196 men from Sydney's Balmain area are now permanently commemorated at Loyalty Square, following years of research to identify them.
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TRANSCRIPT
In the heart of Balmain, in Sydney's inner west, families gather at Loyalty Square for a dedication more than a century in the making.
The square is home to one of Australia's earliest First World War memorials, unveiled in April 1916 with the names of 38 local servicemen who had died during the Gallipoli campaign.
But since that time, the names of others killed in subsequent conflicts were never added.
Veteran of two conflicts - the Malayan Emergency and Vietnam War, Ron Glew was president of the Balmain-Rozelle RSL sub-branch when he began a campaign to honour those who paid the ultimate price for Australia.
"The main thing that we do is we make a pledge to remember those that have fallen. That was not being done here. We had a very early memorial that covered only those that fell in Gallipoli, and there were far more. There were 210 that fell during the First World War from Balmain-Rozelle, and they should be remembered."
The 210 was an early figure identified during research, before further checks produced the final 196 names now added to the memorial.
Balmain had around 32,000 residents when the war began, and Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne says its contribution was extraordinary.
"We had 32,000 residents in Balmain at the outbreak of the First World War. More than 5,000 left to serve. Almost the entire male adult population who could sign up did so, and so you can just imagine what the impact was on this local community of losing so many people. And it's important that we commemorate that in the right way."
Among the names finally added is George Wise, a Balmain-born mechanic who enlisted in 1915.
He was married and 26 when he sailed from Sydney the following year with reinforcements for the 19th Battalion.
Four months later, George was killed in action in France.
His great-niece Gayle Wise says his story, and that of the brother who followed him to war, has remained with the family ever since.
"Along with the rest of the family, we're here to honour my great-uncle today. He fought in World War One and was killed in action. Sadly, his brother, who was my grandfather, he enlisted to join his brother, only to arrive there and find out he'd been killed the day before. So yeah, and George's father was the first African Civil War veteran to be buried here in Australia, so he was in the Civil War Navy in America, 1862."
The Wise family's roots in Balmain stretch back generations, with family members working around the suburb's waterfront.
George and his wife Madge had no children, but his story was carried through his brother's family.
Gayle later researched his military records herself.
And on Saturday, she stood at Loyalty Square with her own great-grandchildren.
"It's extremely, extremely important, and for generations to come, especially in my family, because I've got my great-grandchildren here today. So there's seven generations, starting from Pliny the Elder. And it's important, and I hope a lot of other councils follow suit and instigate what is happening here today, follow suit with that, yeah."
The effort to find the missing names also brought another generation into their story.
Local school students undertook much of the research, working with the RSL and community historians before the records were further checked.
Darcy Byrne says descendants of the servicemen also became part of the project.
"To make this improved memorial happen, we brought the whole community together, with local school students undertaking much of the research, working with the RSL and the descendants and ancestors of the lost service personnel. This has been a beautiful project and a great improvement to our local community."
For Ron Glew, the dedication completes one part of the job, but not the work of preserving the stories behind the names.
Families are still contacting him with information about relatives who served.
"Well, several times people have come up to me and said, "My father fell in the Somme etc. etc. And it's appropriate that we we recognise these people and remember them, and and that, as I say, is part and parcel of the creed of the RSL."
George Wise was killed on the 26th of July 1916 and has no known grave.
His name is recorded at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France.
Now, 110 years after his death, it is also inscribed at Loyalty Square in Balmain, alongside the other servicemen whose names had been missing for generations.
For their families, the dedication means those names finally have a permanent place in the community they forever left behind.
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget."
