Many residents of Ballarat's newest suburb are unaware of the long and proud history of the area they call home.
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But a trip to the local shopping centre is set to change that, with a new exhibition Honoured in Lucas telling the story of the men and women from the region who gave their lives during World War I, and the women known as the Lucas Girls who lent their name to the suburb and raised the funds to build the Arch of Victory and Avenue of Honour.
The exhibition, which opened as part of the Ballarat Heritage Festival, has been created to let Lucas residents, many of whom are new to the area and new to Ballarat, understand the history of the names surrounding them.
SEE THE LUCAS VIDEO CREATED FOR THE HONOURED IN LUCAS EXHIBITION
The name of each street in Lucas is taken from the 597 names along the Avenue of Honour remembering those from the area who died during WWI except for one of its main thoroughfares, Eleanor Drive, named after Eleanor Lucas who founded E. Lucas and Co in 1888, which went on to employ more than 500 women at its peak.
Among those names are Major Charles Coltman and Sergeant Percy Coltman after whom the Coltman Plaza shopping centre is named.
Their great, great, great nephew Cpl George Coltman attended the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday.
."Like most people it wasn't until I started to study Australian history, in particular Anzac history, at school that I started to take more interest," Cpl Coltman said.
The brothers went to Macarthur Street State School and Grenville College before moving to Sydney and answering the call.
Charles, already a veteran of the Boer War, went to Gallipoli with the 4th Battalion and won a Military Cross for his gallantry at Lone Pine but died in Egypt at the age of 38 after contracting pneumonia. Percy served at Gallipoli then went on to serve in France where he was killed at Pozieres on August 5, 1916 at age 44. He has no known grave.
"Local people have a proud history of serving our country," Cpl Coltman said. "Ballarat has a wonderful history of service and sacrifice and many beautiful shrines and places for reflection, particularly the Avenue of Honour where Charles and Percy are both recognised.
"And the suburb of Lucas, where we stand, it a wonderful show of appreciation to all soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice."
The exhibition features a wall of names and histories of some of the soldiers whose names are now on the street signs around the suburb, alongside artefacts and memorabilia from the Lucas Girls.
Also attending the opening were Lucas Girls Lynette Singleton, Joan Benton and Barbara Healey who said having an exhibition of this type in the shopping centre where thousands of people would see it was a wonderful way to raise awareness of the history of the area.
"There are so few of us left now and each year we are losing more and more," said Lucas Girls president Lynette Singleton.
Children from nearby Lucas Primary School and Siena Catholic Primary School attended the opening.
"The children were very interested because they probably don't know that we worked in the factory and that's where all this has come from," Ms Singleton said.
IN OTHER NEWS
Historian and Arch of Victory/Avenue of Honour president Gary Snowden said Lucas developers Integra had played a major role in keeping the memory of many of those who lost their lives alive by naming streets after them.
"Most of us who live outside Lucas probably have no idea what our streets are actually named for. The children of Lucas will grow up knowing the background to the streets in which they live and play, and in which their friends live and play."
Honoured in Lucas is a collaboration between Coltman Plaza Lucas, Integra and the Arch of Victory/Avenue of Honour Committee and is on display until May 30.
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