Scone Remembers Their Fallen Soldiers

VETERAN, Bruce Brown, led the Remembrance Day ceremony in Scone this year recounting the moment the Treaty of Versailles was signed in a railway carriage in a forest clearing in France, bringing WWI to a close.

Mr Brown explained the tradition of remembering the end of WWI with two minutes silence was put forward by an Australian journalist working in Fleet Street, Edward Honey, which was further promoted by a South African statesman who put the proposal to the British Cabinet and endorsed by King George V throughout the Commonwealth. 

Laying the first wreath for Remembrance Day in Scone: Val Quinnell and Dennis Wilson from the Scone RSL Sub-branch.

On the second anniversary of of the signing of the Treaty, the first unknown soldier was entombed at Westminster Abbey, which drew more than 1 million visitors in the first week, paying their respects.

In 1993, the remains of an unknown Australian soldier were exhumed from a military cemetery in France and entombed at the Australian War Memorial, touching a chord with Australians and reinvigorating the importance of Remembrance Day in Australia.

Cr Lee Watts read from the book by Harry Willey, “Scone’s Fallen ANZAC’s” telling the story of one of more than 400 local soldiers who fought in WWI, Private Arthur Oscar Harvey a 19 year old who was a carpenter who live in Oxford Street, Scone and was initially deemed unfit for duty due to a heart condition, but kept applying until a doctor in Goulburn cleared him as fit.

In France Private Harvey volunteered to act as a runner, when phone lines were cut and the area was under heavy enemy bombardment. General John Monash personally thanked Private Harvey for saving countless lives and awarded him the Military Medal.

Private Harvey fought in the battle of Messines before being deployed to the Passchendaele campaign, where many men did not just die from enemy action, but also drowned or froze in the trenches. It was there that 21 year old Private Arthur Henry lost his life in October 2017. There were another seven Scone men who also lost their lives at Passchendaele.

His name is inscribed on rolls of honour at the War Memorial in Scone, St Luke’s Church, the Scone RSL Club, the Scott Memorial Hospital, the Australian War Memorial and overseas at the Tpres Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium.

Reverend Nate Atkinson led the service in prayer, Mia Kelaher from St Joseph’s High School sang beautifully, Haley Cook from Scone Grammar School read the poem “In Flander’s Fields”, Georgie Hinde and Matt Harman from Scone High School recited the poem “We Shall Keep the Faith”, Wayne Saunders piped “the Lament” and Chris Lavis played “the Last Post”.

The Service culminated with the song “Hometown Battlefield”, with veteran Val Quinnell explaining the song reminds us all of the sacrifice all our serving members make because often the war for them is never over, with many suffering from post traumatic stress.

Lest We Forget.