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Arch of Victory - Garry Snowden

Garry Snowden was guest speaker at our 27th May 2027 breakfast meeting, where members were very privileged to listen to his talk on the Arch of Victory Veterans – “Remembering Those Who Served”.

Garry is the President of the Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour. He’s been to Gallipoli on 19 occasions and walked the Kakoda Trail twice. Garry is a retired school teacher and has been a passionate supporter and leader of the Arch of Victory and the associated Avenue of Honour.

Garry explained that there are 3801 trees with plaques in the avenue, which is 22 km long, the longest in Australia. The development of the Avenue of Honour started in 1916 and continued to 1919 with 3 separate plantings; the first planting involved 500 trees.

One of the significant organisations involved initially was the “Lucas Girls”; the ladies that worked at the Lucas factory in Ballarat where 500 women were involved and ably led by Matilda “Tilly” Thompson and Edward Price, the Director of the Lucas Factory. They raised money for the purchase of the trees as well as for the building of the Arch. When there was a shortage of labour, they even volunteered to load bricks onto the drays at the Selkirk’s brick factory thus ensuring the continuation of work at the Arch.

In 1918 the Lucas Girls played the first women’s football match against a team from a Melbourne factory, at the Eastern Oval, as a fundraiser. The Arch was amazingly constructed in 3 months. Our arch is the only one in Australia and is well known overseas; the Arc de Triomphe has a photo of our arch in its display.

As part of the continued development of the Arch precinct in 2017, the Garden of the Grieving Mother was added as well as the garden around it. The former Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove opened the monument and several years later described it as a really beautiful display.

Garry then provided information about those Ballarat defence personnel who had died and have trees in their honour, including 4 pairs of brothers and 1 father and son. Some of individuals mentioned by Garry included Jack Messenger who was killed in New Guinea at the start of the war before Gallipoli and William Dunstan VC who was killed after only 5 days at Gallipoli.

Other interesting people with plaques include Rachael Pratt, a nurse who trained at the Ballarat Base Hospital, was awarded a Military Medal after her death in the tent hospital on the front line and Harold Bell who went to Macarthur St PS. He was killed in action when he was only 16 years of age – too young to enlist but he forged his age and told his parents he was going to work in outback Queensland.

Two men were knighted for their military service; Sir Albert Coates who served on the Thai-Burma railway and Sir Leslie Moorshead who served in the First World War. Garry explained that coincidentally they both lived in Tress Street in Ballarat.

Garry visited the grave of Sister Gertrude Munro who died on the 10th October 1918 and noticed an incorrect date of death on the headstone, (September instead of October) and was successful in getting it officially changed.

Garry provided a very informative talk about the Arch, its installation and the individual servicemen and women who are commemorated there - Many thanks Garry.