By RUSSELL BENNETT
A NEW Emerald RSL project has gone to extraordinary lengths to honour the lives of the 90 brave young men and women from hills communities who left their families behind to fight for their country in World War I.
More than 30 never returned.
In memory of them, and for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing in 1915, Emerald’s Avenue of Honour will be resurrected in time for 2015.
The avenue was originally planted near Emerald Primary School on the appropriately-named Heroes Avenue in 1921.
But in the 1950s, when a decision was made to widen the road, many of the trees that made up the avenue were cut down.
The plaques that adorned them were salvaged and remain in the RSL. By 2015, they will make up information stands along a new Anzac Walk – connecting the RSL to the cenotaph in the centre of the town. It will follow the route that Emerald’s traditional Anzac Day march takes down Main Street, over the Puffing Billy line and down Memorial Avenue.
The information stands featured in the walk depict the lives of each of the 32 lost Diggers.
The walk will end at the corner of Memorial Avenue and Westlands Road near the RSL with ‘Anzac Place’ to be constructed near the intersection, where Emerald RSL’s Anzac Day ceremonies will be held from 2015.
The Anzac Walk is one of three trails that the Emerald Village Committee see as part of their tourism plan for Emerald. When completed, the trails – Anzac, Nobelius Heritage and Puffing Billy – will provide local residents and visitors an invaluable source of information for historical points of interest around the town.
Emerald RSL president Peter Maloney said the club was committed to make the project happen “for the whole of the Emerald community”.
“The RSL believes it is a project of major significance and is pleased to see the local
(Emerald) Village Committee, Puffing Billy Railway and Cardinia Shire Council providing major support for the project,” he said.
“It is also seen as an opportunity to enhance the landscape in the vicinity of the walk, where visitors to Emerald gain their first impression of our township.”
Mr Maloney thanked a range of people who banded together to work on the project, including Geoff Spring – funding co-ordinator, and government department liaison officer – and Russell Neilsen, an industrial designer who developed the designs.
