The Claremont Memorial stands where the 40th Battalion was raised in 1916.

Mum’s Great Uncle Baizel Elliss died at Gallipoli 16 June 1915, his address at time of enlistment was Berriedale, near Claremont. Baizel’s elder sister Isabel Rust and her young family lived at Claremont.

Dad’s Uncle George Robinson/Holt died on the Western Front in 1917. George would spend several months camped at Claremont after enlistment.

After Claremont we travelled to the Cenotaph at the Queens Domain to participate in the Coo-ee March..

 Centenary of the ANZAC supported by record numbers throughout Tasmania, commemorating our men and women who served not only at Gallipoli but also in all wars since and those that are to this day, serving in peace keeping missions around the world.

Lest we Forget

The poppies are made from Georges AIF record to represent the immeasurable sacrifice he made in 1917.

The petals for each poppy consist of one page from the records and 15 pages in total to build.

Georges signature and the signatures of his parents are within the poppies.

In August, picked Horace & George and a guess of John and Dick (L) of George was correct.

The woman right of John is Mrs Gunter and behind her is Mr Gunter. In front of Horace is Ada Cummings with Louie Holt in the white dress, the girl behind her (no hat) is Tot (Elizabeth) Bowman, behind Tot is Charlie Holt, Walter Holt, and Dolly Holt  white dress & hat. Robert ‘Bob’ Smith, Dan’s friend is in the middle the two men right at the back are Tasman Holt with Charlie Dyson out on the right. Tuck Holt/Robinson holding the billy & son Ronnie (4) on his lap, his wife Lizzie with son Eric (6). The Lady Barron School Picnic: 1916.

We blew into Flinders a few days ago and by this mean, arrived in a howling gale –  FI style of course! The flight a lot smoother than anticipated. These days the Metro is a short 25 minutes. The previous planes took almost 1 hour. I’ve had my fair share of rough trips, 25 minutes a breeze, sort of!

Yesterday in the Bowman history room found this photo of Robinson and others taken in 1916 by Dan Bowman… George & Horace correct! – today will take notes to name all. Dan was a fantastic at keeping records.

Do you recognise a family member in this photo?? if you do, please pass on with a comment.

Another photo from the last year – named Robinson and others…..

I think (Back row) is Grandfather Horace then maybe George on his left (dark suits), maybe Dick on the left of whom I think is George and ? John on Dick’s left right at the front.

If George is in the picture then it is pre 1916.

The woman right in the front looks familiar as do some of the others !!!

Love to hear others ideas and thoughts.

This photo below is from Fred Collis’s album.

Several photos from Walter and Doris’ album – a huge thank you to my cousins.♥

George means farmer – how true.

Collis – hill.

Robinson – son of Robin?

Holt – a small grove of trees?

Today the 26 October I thought I would do something a little different. Last year was done thinking it may be of interest to a few – just maybe. The past 6 months have been surreal as the descendants of our old families reconnect. The modern names, never before heard – older names somewhat vague, some with more information, others with photo’s – all waiting to be connected!! These connections… stunning – familiarities here and there, coincidence’s everywhere, pieces of the puzzle starting to make sense! So back to… George Holt and his first cousin Harold Holt both answered the call and joined the AIF and in doing so, take their place in our family history. Harold’s Grandson tells of another important family story that happened in WW2 WW2 William (Billy) Holt and his first cousin Patrick Holt answer the call in joining the army in WW2. They were in the same unit, unfortunately they were captured and became POW’s, toward the end of the war they were split up and Billy perished on the POW ship when destroyed in the South West Pacific. Both George and Billy were known as Holt’s at home on Flinders – that was their surname!! Billy was about 7 when George joined in 1916. What’s interesting is on joining they both had to use their birth names – George as Robinson and Billy as Garrett. How strange it must have been to have always been known as Holt and then on official work be called another… Bless you both!