There are three Avenues of Honour in Berwick which commemorate the service of local people in the First World War. The City of Casey has produced a book, Our Living Memorials, on the Avenues in their region, including the three Berwick ones. You can down-load a copy of the book here.
The smallest of these Avenues is the one in Church Street in Berwick which commemorates the nine soldiers who had attended Berwick Grammar School and died in the service of their country.
John Bellair, a past pupil of Berwick Grammar, has written a book, The School that Was: a history of the Berwick Grammar School, 1882-1928 (1) and much of the following history of the school comes from his book.
Berwick Grammar School began in 1882 as a private school owned by the Head Master, Edward Antonio Lloyd Vieusseux (1854-1917) and operated until 1928. Edward was the third son of Louis and Julie (nee Matthieu) Vieusseux who had arrived in Melbourne in 1852. Louis was a Civil Engineer, but in 1857 opened a private school for girls, Valetta House Ladies College, in Clarendon Street, East Melbourne, where the Freemasons Hospital now stands. (2) Edward had two older brothers, Stephen who died at 15 months and Lewis, the eldest boy, who disappeared on a family picnic in January 1858. Lewis, aged seven, was riding behind the family buggy on a stock horse, went off the track to look at something and his rider-less pony returned but Lewis did not. His body was found two years later, by a wood cutter, about ten miles from where he had disappeared. (3)
Edward had worked at Jacob Hessel's boarding school in Harkaway, at the property Ratharnay, from 1880 and previous to this he had taught at Geelong Grammar. His father, who as we know had operated his own school for many years, financed the purchase of a house in Berwick for his son to operate a school and so Berwick Grammar school began. The first advertisement I could find for the Berwick Grammar School was in October 1882 (4) The property they purchased, which was on 1½ acres of land, was on the corner of Brisbane Street and Church Street and had been used by Miss Adelaide Robinson as a girls school from when it was built in 1877. (5)
Edward had married Emily Maria 'Nellie' Ross on December 18, 1877 at Trinity Church in East Melbourne. They had four children - Lewis John Matthieu (1878 -1890), Edward Telford Rivier (1880-1887), Dorothy Jean (1888-1921) and Nellie Phyllis (1889-1914). As you can see three of the children died very young and the last remaining child, Dorothy, when she was only 33; she did not marry, so there were no grandchildren. Nellie died on September 26, 1940, aged 82, having out-lived all her children. (6) They are all buried at the Berwick Cemetery.
Nellie Vieusseux was by all accounts a kind and benevolent woman. At a function to celebrate Edward's appointment as a Justice of the Peace in 1909, the Reverend A.J. Cole, said - everyone knew the magnitude of Mrs Vieusseux's charitableness and benevolence. There was never a case of need in the district where Mrs Vieusseux was not the first to the fore with help. In his position he had had many opportunities of witnessing her acts of kindness and practical help to those in want, while there were also many cases which he had only incidentally heard of, and very likely there were many that he had not heard about, thus showing that her kindly acts were not prompted by any desire to be lauded or eulogised by her fellows, but only to exercise the philanthropic propensities with which she was liberally endowed (7)It is not known how many boys were enrolled in the early years of Berwick Grammar, there are apparently no school rolls in existence and it is thought that around 400 students were educated there over the life of the school. (8)
Edward Vieusseux unexpectedly died on November 6, 1917, aged 63. In June 1919 it was reported that On Sunday afternoon the Church of England [Berwick] was crowded to the doors, when the memorial window to the late Mr Edward A. L Vieusseux, head master of the Berwick Grammar School for 35 years was unveiled. The window was given by the old boys of the grammar school as a mark of respect to the memory of their late beloved master. (9)
After his death the School became affiliated with the Church of England, who acquired the buildings. The School then went through a succession of Head Masters, eight in eleven years until it closed in 1928 - The Reverend P.P McLaren became Head Master at the start of 1918, he was replaced by the Reverend Charles Zercho in 1920; in 1922 Mr Hancock took over, then the Reverend Douglas Howard, Mr Charles Kenrick, Mr Paul Polan, Mr J. H Morgan and lastly the Reverend Hubert Brooksbank. (10)
The building became the short lived Winchester House Grammar school, then a guest house. From 1949 until 1972 it was used by the Anglican Church to train teachers and for a holiday camp for 'Christian Holidays' for children. The Building was then called Mary Blackwood house, after a staff member at the Diocesan Office in St Pauls Cathedral. It then became a Community school, until 1977 when it was used as a place of instruction into the Jewish faith. The Church of England (or Anglican church) finally sold the building in 1990 and it is now a private home (11)
Avenue of Honour
School historian, John Bellair, describes the process to establish the Honour Roll and the Avenue and the dedication service -
At the second annual meeting held in June 1920, the Association decided to have a Roll of Honour made for the sixty-six Old Boys' who served World War I, nine of whom made the supreme sacrifice The Old Boy' subsequently thanked Miss Dolly Vieusseux for the great help she had given in compiling the list of names. This roll, handsomely designed and inscribed in blackwood, was moved from the school to Christ Church when Berwick Grammar closed down in 1928. The Association also arranged for ten American Pin Oaks to be planted on the road opposite the school to honour the memory of the nine who fell in World War I, and to honour the memory of Laurie Goudie, who was killed in the Boer War. As well the families of the Old Boys' who lost their lives were presented with a silver emblem which bore each ones battalion colours. This accompanied a letter of sympathy from the Association. At this time also, an oak tree was planted in the school grounds in honour of Edward Vieusseux.
As part of the dedication of the Roll of Honour and the memorial trees, a service was held in Christ Church [in Berwick]. The large congregation consisted of the families of the boys who wee killed and many Old Boys'. Mr Zercho have what is described in the Minutes as "a stirring eloquent appeal to the boys of the school, past and present, to live honest and upright lives and profit by the lesson taught them by the boys who went abroad, especially those who had given their lives for the Empire." His text was the word "Remember." (13)
Who are the nine boys, who were honoured by the Avenue in Church Street? It is not always that easy to specifically identify the names on a memorial and in this case as Berwick Grammar was a boarding school as well as a day school, many of the students did not have a local address. What follows is my best guess of who the nine students are and their Service Numbers (SN). You can access their full service records on the National Archives of Australia website, www.naa.gov.au If you have any more accurate information, I would be happy to hear from you.
Brunn (surname is actually Bruun) Eric D'Arcy Bruun (SN 3357) Eric was born in Seymour and was 38 years old and living in Woodend when he enlisted on April 30, 1917. Eric was Killed in Action in France on April 25, 1918. His sister, Alice D'Arcy Bruun enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1915.
Elmes Herbert Oliver Elmes (SN 1543 / 1355 ) was born in Berwick and enlisted at the age of 40, on November 30, 1914. His occupation was a station hand. Herbert was Killed in Action in France on November 5, 1916. His father, Thomas, was the Doctor in Berwick from around 1870 until his death in 1893. As mentioned in his short obituary, below, Herbert's older brother also enlisted - he was Frederick Wane Elmes (SN 1254). Herbert also attended Melbourne Grammar School, and the photo below comes from their Archives (see here)
Gaunt The only Gaunt listed in the student list in Mr Bellair's book is W. Gaunt; but the only Gaunt in the Roll of Honour on the Australian War Memorial website is Edwin George Gaunt (SN 2604). He was born at Yarraville and enlisted at the age of 37 on July 7, 1915, in New South Wales. Edwin was Killed in Action in France on July 19 or 20, 1916.
Hodgson I can't work out who this is. On the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour there is only one S. Hodgson listed - Sidney Hodgson (SN 3562) who was born and enlisted in New South Wales. He was 18 when he enlisted on September 7, 1915 and was Killed in Action in France a year later on October 22, 1916. Was this our S. Hodgson? Mr Bellair's book has an incomplete list of students and it lists an S. Hodgison - but I cannot find any Hodgisons who enlisted. If you know who this might be, I would love to hear from you.
Hope Harry Leslie Hope (SN 61) was born in South Melbourne and was living in Elsternwick when he enlisted on June 4, 1915 at 30 years of age. He died of wounds, in France, on April 22, 1917.
Kent Alfred Ernest Kent (SN 3336) was born in Berwick and was living in Narre Warren when he enlisted on August 2, 1915. Alfred's parents, Anthony and Mary Kent had arrived in Narre Warren around 1875 and purchased Granite Park (which they re-named Oatlands). Alfred was married to Alice Webb, the daughter of Sidney and Ann Webb. Alfred was 40 when he enlisted as was Killed in Action in France on May 5, 1916. Alfred also attended Melbourne Grammar School, and the photo below comes from their Archives (see here)
Lyon Charles Hugh Lyon (SN 412) was born at Hawksburn and enlisted in Western Australia on September 10, 1914. He was 26 and his next of kin, his mother, was living at Harkaway. Lieutenant Lyon was part of the Camel Corp and was Killed in Action on November 7, 1917 in Palestine.
Miller Lieutenant Alexander Henderson Miller was born in Berwick and enlisted, at Beechworth, on July 15, 1915 aged 29. He was Killed in Action in Belgium on September 25, 1917.
Robin Arthur Mervyn Robin (SN 2180) was born at Camberwell and was 21 years old when he enlisted on March 10, 1915. Arthur was Killed in Action in France on June 29, 1916.
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