CLOSE to a hundred people attended the official unveiling of a new memorial at Dobie on Sunday to honour soldiers from the First World War.<\/p>\n
The memorial is the work of a small committee of volunteers, who\u2019ve worked tirelessly over recent months transforming the Dobie Highway Park.<\/p>\n
The volunteers secured $6,000 funding from Ararat RSL and Pacific Hydro to erect a memorial stone containing the names of 24 soldiers who served in the First World War, as well as landscaping, seating and an impressive entrance sign.<\/p>\n
The memorial park replaces Dobie\u2019s Avenue of Honour, which has been impacted by the duplication of the Western Highway.<\/p>\n
Committee President Roger Louder said the memorial has been four years in the making.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in early 2018, thanks to the Ararat Genealogical Society, it was brought to public attention that what was left of the original Dobie Avenue of Honour on the Western Highway was in poor shape and destined to be lost forever due to the Western Highway Duplication Project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA public meeting was chaired by the then Mayor Gwenda Allgood and a committee was formed to oversee the building of a permanent war memorial at the old Dobie Highway Park site where we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough it was sad to see the demise of the avenue of trees, our chosen site is surrounded by beautiful trees, many older than the soldiers on the plaque,\u201d Mr Louder said.<\/p>\n
Steve Shannon gave the main address at the opening, saying Australians owe so much to those who served.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that sense of debt that has brought us there today. It\u2019s that sense of debt that will see thousands march and commemorate tomorrow. And it\u2019s that sense of debt that unites all Australians who value their freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a debt we cannot pay and it\u2019s a debt to people we cannot thank. It\u2019s a debt we should not pay \u2013 if a debt is paid, then the slate is wiped clean and all sense of obligation goes with it. We must remain forever indebted and forever grateful for those who have given us so much,\u201d Mr Shannon said.<\/p>\n
The memorial stone was officially unveiled by John Richardson and his grandson Jack.<\/p>\n
Mr Richardson is the grandson of Cr Arthur Richardson who opened the original memorial in August 1919.<\/p>\n
Copies of a book depicting Dobie\u2019s history written by Ararat\u2019s preeminent historian and author Marion McAdie went on sale at the memorial opening.<\/p>\n
The book is $20 and can be purchased by contacting Marion on 0472 722 985.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CLOSE to a hundred people attended the official unveiling of a new memorial at Dobie on Sunday to honour soldiers from the First World War.
\nThe memorial is the work of a small committee of volunteers, who\u2019ve worked tirelessly over recent months transforming the Dobie Highway Park.
\nThe volunteers secured $6,000 funding from Ararat RSL and Pacific Hydro to erect a memorial stone containing the names of 24 soldiers who served in the First World War, as well as landscaping, seating and an impressive entrance sign.
\nThe memorial park replaces Dobie\u2019s Avenue of Honour, which has been impacted by the duplication of the Western Highway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/IMG_9401-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-fb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}