Thirty-two Ballarat men who died in a battle in Belgium more than 100 years ago have been remembered at a commemorative service on Sunday.
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Students, Ballarat MPs and councillors and family members of the lost men gathered at the Arch of Victory, to remember those fallen in WWI fight for Passchendaele.
Trench warfare to recapture the village of Passchendaele went for just over three months, with more than 250,000 British and allied soldiers recorded as casualties. Many of the 32 local men who died in the warfare were part of the Battle of Poelcappelle, the first of the campaign.
MC Jeremy Johnson urged attendees to "contemplate that every one of those people were an individual".
"They were a person who lived in our community, and did everything we did: woke up, went to church, went to the pub or the footy. So it's very befitting that, 102 years on, we remember their service," he said.
A poppy crafted by artist Ron Davis from shrapnel lead found at the battlefields of Passchendaele was donated to the Avenue of Honour at the service.
The men's names:-
ANDERSON Walter Newton, ARMSTRONG William James, BAILEY Thomas Francis, BRITT Thomas Charles Herbert, BRITTLEBANK Andrew Buxton, DOULL Ronald Matheson, DOYLE Michael, FERGUSON Robert Henry, FRASER George Christian, GROAT John Leonard, HEATHCOTE Stanley Alexander, HOLGATE Harry Spencer, KYLE Leonard Gordon Clark, MORROW Thomas Cuthbert, MUDIE Lewis Charles, NICHOLAS Bryon Fitzgerald, NICOLL Norman Crosbie, O'KEEFFE James, PEASNELL James Henry, REECE Arthur Ernest, ROGERS George, SCOTT John Dougald, SEMMENS Herbert James, SHINGLER Frederick Charles, SHORTRIDGE Bertram Clarence, SMERDON Clifford Charles, THISTLETHWAITE George Thomas, THOMAS Stanley John, WEARMOUTH John William, WHITE Edwin John, WILLIAMS Alfred, WRIGLEY Jack Berryman.
