When Launceston historian Janice Humphreys started researching soldiers from the Dorset area, she didn’t realise what impact it could have on the community.
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Ms Humphreys and volunteer researcher Teresa Wood have spent the past couple of years digging through old records to find World War I soldiers with connections to the region.
They discovered about 27 North-Eastern soldier’s names were missing from the Scottsdale Memorial Walk through their research.
“They will be added to the walk,” Ms Humphreys said.
“It will be nice to have them all recognised.”
When the memorial was first established, the focus was on soldiers born in the Dorset region who served for Australia while her research delved deeper, Ms Humphreys said.
She planned to create a database of the soldiers from the region and already has about 200 pages of names and details.
RSL Tasmania Scottsdale Sub Branch secretary Belinda Somerville-Hall confirmed the club was investigating adding the names of missing soldiers to the memorial walk.
The club was looking through the extensive records to confirm the soldiers’ details, Mrs Somerville-Hall said.
The next step would be to look at funding options, she said.
It would be a “huge process” to fund as a small RSL sub-branch, but the club wanted to recognise all of the soldiers from the Dorset region, Mrs Somerville-Hall said.
“World War I had such a huge impact on regional areas.”
Ms Humphreys was inspired to start researching soldiers because her grandfather served in WWI for New Zealand.
She started her research into soldiers connected to the region when she moved to Scottsdale in 2014.
Families liked to know their relatives were being recognised, Ms Humphreys said.
Her research uncovered the names of soldiers who died during the war as well as those who returned home safely.
“It’s taken a couple of years to check their details,” Ms Humphreys said.
She gave the information to the RSL club to help them determine the names needed to be added to the memorial walk.
- The names of the missing soldiers discovered include Charles Arthur Bessell, William Gordon Bessell, William Archibald Cherry, Walter Thomas Conder, Athol Thomas Harper, Leslie William Johnston, Vere Davey Johnson, Alexander John Yates, Thomas William Bartley, Sidney Boden, Charles Edward John Fletcher, Alfred Edward Graham, Leonard Wickham Hesketh, George Albert Hudson, Henry George James, Frederick Loone, Walter Gordon Stuart, Charles Thomas Baker, Vernon William Dennis, Ernest Harold Dyas, Sidney Faulkner, Charles George Furlong, James Albert Jones, Cecil St George Lowther, Mervyn Reginald Cartledge, Alfred Walter Barrett, and Allan Robert Andrews.