IT HAS taken almost 100 years, but Kogarah Council will soon have an honour roll of all residents who volunteered for active service in World War I.
The council's co-ordinator of cultural and outreach services John Johnson is compiling the list as part of World War I centenary commemorations.
Why has it taken so long, one might ask?
Mr Johnson said there had been efforts over the years — and there were other rolls compiled by other organisations — but the council roll never got off the ground.
"On 19 April 1915, Kogarah Council passed a motion that a 'roll of honour' be prepared of all the residents of this municipality who had volunteered for active service," Mr Johnson said.
"In July 1915 in the wake of the Anzac landings, town clerk William Evans wrote that 'my council is very desirous of compiling a roll of honour covering the whole of the municipality of Kogarah, and the men who have enlisted for active service at the front'."
However, in 1924 town clerk George W. Leighton wrote to the local Red Cross that it was "not the council's intention to have any names placed on the [war memorial] tablet".
"As a result, there has never been a comprehensive list compiled of the men and women from Kogarah who enlisted for active service," Mr Johnson said.
"Almost a century later, Kogarah Council is now fulfilling the decision made in 1915 as part of our commemoration of World War I."
He said 416,809 Australians enlisted in the war, representing 38.7 per cent of the male population then aged 18-44.
Women also served in a supportive role near the frontline, and the only Australian nurse to die from enemy fire in World War I came from the Kogarah municipality.
"We do not know exactly how many residents of the Kogarah municipality enlisted but to date more than 850 have been identified, and we expect the total to reach more than 900," Mr Johnson said.
STORIES FROM RESEARCH
Corporal George (real name Gordon) Courtney of Railway Parade, Mortdale. He lied about his age and gave a false name when he enlisted at 15 in 1915. He arrived at Gallipoli in August 1915, seeing out the rest of the campaign there. He then went to France and was wounded several times, gassed, and promoted to corporal before he turned 17. He survived the war, returned home, married in 1920 and had a family. He was 48 when he died.
Staff nurse Edith Blake of Vista Street, Sans Souci. She enlisted in Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps and spent a year nursing German prisoners of war at Belmont, Surrey. Nurse Blake, 32, was drowned when the Glenart Castle hospital ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Bristol Channel on February 26,1918. She is thought to be the only Australian nurse to die from enemy action in World War I.
Photo of 21 Alice Street, Sans Souci, decorated for homecoming 1919. ‘‘Wyberth’’ was the home of Private William Alfred Clarke and was decorated probably for his homecoming in May 1919. Private Clarke was believed to have lived there with his wife Evelyn until his death in 1963.
CAN YOU HELP?
Mr Johnson said the community could help by sending in personal details of Kogarah soldiers to check against existing research; lend photographs and documents for copying; pass on any information of local memorials or honour rolls yet undiscovered, particularly of the Kogarah Public School honour roll which has been missing for a long time.
Details: John Johnson: 93309578 or john.johnson@kogarah.nsw.gov.au