Brooweena artwork

Thanks to the children of Brooweena State School for getting involved in the Anzac Bridge project.

Here are just some of the lovely drawings and writing they produced about their war memorial bridge at Brooweena and why it is so special.

Message from the Brooweena community

At the Anzac Day service at Kaiparoro war memorial bridge, the names of the nine fallen from Brooweena were read out, and a wreath was laid for them. 

We also read out this lovely message from the Brooweena community to the people of Kaiparoro. This is what it said:  

Dear Friends of the Kaiparoro Bridge,

Today is a day on which we remember all New Zealand and Australians who served and died in war and on operational service. The Spirit of ANZAC with its qualities of courage, mateship and sacrifice continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identities.

Mateship continues with this link between our two unique Bridges in a bond that was forged on this day so long ago. We remember those who served our countries and reflect upon their selfless sacrifice and also acknowledge the losses and sacrifices of their families.

Our bridge, of wooden construction with concrete piers, though not so grand as yours, is the only privately erected War Memorial in Queensland.

It is situated 19 km south of Brooweena, a very small township in South East Queensland. It was designed by Laurence Stevens Smith then the owner of historic “ Mount Joseph Station” which is situated opposite. It was constructed by Frank Fallon along with Station hands from Mount Joseph and a number of returned servicemen from the district. It was officially opened on 21 May, 1921. The Fallen of WW1, 9 local men,  are listed on one pier and directly opposite are the names of the Returned Soldiers. It is uncanny that the number should be the same as your bridge and that both bridges were constructed with the help of the Returned.

The bridge carried traffic on the Woolooga Road for over fifty years, ceasing on 16 June 1972 with the completion of a new adjacent road. Restoration works were carried out in 2008 by the staff of the Woocoo Shire Council together with invaluable input from several local residents.

Today the bridge is cared for by the “Friends of the Bridge” in conjunction with the Fraser Coast Regional Council. Each year since 2009 on Anzac Day we hold an informal service followed by a picnic lunch. We remember our fallen and returned, children recite poetry, we tell stories in relation to our fallen, raise our flag with pride, lay wreaths to the eerie sound of bagpipes by our lone piper, and give thanks for the freedom we enjoy.

The Anzac spirit exists in each of us so therefore let us be guided by that ANZAC spirit in facing national and personal challenges ahead and let us strive to be worthy of the memory of those we honour today!

We will include the names of your fallen in our Service and remember the friendship between your country and ours and the link that has now been “bridged”. We look forward to strengthening that bond and continued correspondence in the future!

God Bless

Best Wishes

From the Brooweena  District and “Friends of the Bridge”

More about Anzac Day at Kaiparoro: "it' s just such a lovely spot."

Why the Anzac Day at Kaiparoro is special:

• It's out in the country, surrounded by beautiful farmland and green hills. I'm not used to Anzac Day services where you can see cows and hawks. 
• You also get to see a flyover by the Vintage Aviation Collection!
• It's a true community event. People bring their dogs. Someone had handpainted poppies onto the rocks in the field beyond the fence. 
• It's for the wider community as well. Some people had travelled from as far as Hawkes Bay, Wanganui, Horowhenua and the Kapiti Coast.  
• It's very personal. The roll of honour is read out for the nine names on the bridge, and after each name, family members go forward and lay wreaths for that person. Each year, one name is chosen and a relative gives a short biography of that person; this year it was Charles Harvey. 

At yesterday's service, the Deputy French Ambassador, Clarisse Gerardin, gave a very moving speech about how her family had been caught between the front lines in World War One  and eventually had to be rescued by the Red Cross and relocated to Switzerland. When they finally returned to their farm, it was to find the land almost unrecognizable. For years they worked at restoring it, but they were constantly ploughing up remnants of old shells and even mangled human bodies.

The service was also extra special this year for the new links forged between the bridge communities at Kaiparoro and Brooweena.

There's a lovely article about the bridge here. It makes the point that the Anzac memorial bridge is the country's only bridge built specifically as an Anzac memorial. It also has some wonderful family photos, including postcards sent home by Charles Harvey, some of which were read out at the Anzac Day service by a representative from his family.

Only one of the WW1 soldiers commemorated on the bridge, Arthur Braddick, left any direct descendants. His granddaughter said: "I think it's just such a lovely spot, if you stand on the bridge and look down the valley you can see the land Arthur was brought up on, and left from... it's really beautiful."

Anzac Day at Kaiparoro war memorial bridge

Some photos from a gloriously warm and sunny Anzac Day afternoon:

Hand painted stones

Hand-made poppies

Guard of Honour from 21 Squadron ATC, Masterton

Vintage Aviator Collection flyover (against a perfect blue sky)

Masterton Mayor, Lyn Patterson, reads the names of the fallen from the Bridge Creek memorial bridge
at Brooweena, Queensland

Laying the wreath for the Brooweena soldiers

Reading the message from the Brooweena community to the people of Kaiparoro

Viva Camerata, the combined choir of Rathkeale and St Matthew's in Masterton

Inspecting the wreaths after the service

Display boards about the Anzac Bridge project at the afternoon tea, Pukaha Mt Bruce

Anzac bridges to link commemorations

Thanks to the Wairarapa Times-Age for this article on the Anzac Bridge project. 

"At the Anzac Day service here, we will read out a message from Brooweena and the names of the Broweena soldiers and they will read out a message we send to them and the names of our soldiers at their Anzac commemoration."

I've seen both these messages and I think they are both going to be very powerful and affecting tributes. I won't divulge their contents yet, but will post the text here after the Anzac Day services. 

I'm also looking forward to posting some of the wonderful artwork and poems by the children of the schools,  both here and in Queensland. 

he Anzac Memorial Bridge at Kaiparoro in Wairarapa. PHOTO/FACEBOOK

Visiting ANZAC memorial bridge

Recently I came across this lovely post about a family visit this time last year to the Anzac memorial bridge. 

This family stopped at the bridge, took a moment to stand there and "reflect on its significance", looked for eels in the swimming hole underneath and explored the bush walk in the nearby W A Miller scenic reserve. A week later, they returned so their children could take part in the Anzac Day service. 

"Having the chance to visit special memorial sites such as the ANZAC Memorial bridge helps to develop an understanding for them of what they are commemorating."

"Checking out the bridge" 

The Anzac Bridge Felllows

One of the (many) special things about the Anzac Bridge Fellowship is feeling that you are carrying on a tradition of previous artists' or writers' work, so here are some links to previous Fellows from the last few years:

2015: Connah Podmore's Writing to History project invited members of the community to write a postcard to a war time ancestor (not necessarily a soldier - one boy wrote a letter to a donkey!) Her own postcard was written to Alfred Falkner,designer of the bridge, because of a feeling of connection to him as a fellow maker of memorials. The postcards were collected and featured in a video work and installation shown at Pukaha Mt Bruce on Anzac Day 2015.

2014: In the Harakeke Poppy Remembrance Project, Anna Borrie created a 10m long cloak made of white rata vine and featuring 800 harakeke (flax) poppies. People from the community helped to make the cloak, which was draped over the bridge at the Anzac Day service.  (Fabulous photos of the 2014 Anzac Day service here and here.)

The artist and descendents carry the cloak onto the Bridge

2013: Lucy Jerram Moore had already worked on a collaborative exhibition called War cry /Letters home. You can see her lovely water colour of the bridge here.

The Anzac Bridge project on the WW100 site

The Linking Bridges project is now listed on the WW100 site. This is a great place to explore if you want to find out the huge range of commemorative activities and projects that are being worked on all around the country.

Volunteering for Anzac Day

Recently I read about the Student Volunteer Army’s idea to make Anzac Day a day for volunteering (it's called Serve for NZ: Anzac Day) and it made me think of the work of  the Friends of ANZAC Bridge and also NZ Pacific Studio.

When the main road was rerouted over the new bridge (and just as well, when you see the great trucks thundering past today) the old bridge fell into disrepair. Perhaps this had something to with the growth of anti-war sentiment through the 1960s and the Vietnam War, when Anzac Day services were fraught or largely ignored.

And it might have stayed like that, with the bridge slowly crumbling away. You can see how it looked in this photo taken by Glennis Austin in 2005.

But in 2006, the local community did something about it. They formed the Friends of ANZAC Bridge (FOAB), got funding, held working bees and restored the bridge, and they continue to look after it today, when it has become the focus of Anzac Day activities in the area and a much loved and valued structure.

In 2015, the FOAB won the Supreme Award in the Trustpower Tararua District Community Awards for their dedication to preserving the bridge  and this year representatives of the group travelled to Dunedin for the National Finals. 

"I understand the bridge is unique within New Zealand. We are lucky to have places to go in our country to serve and remember the men and women who died in wartime -- and we're even luckier to have folks like the Friends to help us hold on to those places."(Trustpower community relations representative Emily Beaton)

All this is a tribute to the power of community and the energy and dedication of volunteers. Something similar could be said for the work of NZ Pacific Studio, started by Kay Flavell with the dream of creating an artists’ residency. Since 2001, about 400 people have come here from around the country and around the world to work on their projects.

The house is full  of history (with the steepest staircase you've ever seen leading up to the loft) and it has become a “house joke” that anything and everything you would or could ever want is here somewhere. It’s crammed with books, tools, utensils, artists’ equipment, furniture and even a spinning wheel and loom. 

But it is a special feeling to walk through the front door and know that everyone here is immersed in their own artistic pursuits and often struggling with the same sorts of artistic problems. Someone made the comment to me that “everyone here is working on something new. Even if they are well established in their field, they have come here with a new project in mind.” Tracy Farr wrote a lovely post here ("time was on my side") about what her time at NZ Pacific Studio meant to her.  

Today there's a working bee here, again carried out by volunteers who are giving up a sunny weekend afternoon to devote some care and attention to the house and garden. So thank you all!!

Wildlife and honey

Wildlife spotted in the last few days: cows, sheep, several rabbits. Magpies, pukeko, fantail, paradise duck flying, a hawk startled out of the roadside grasses. Kokako, hihi, kereru, kiwi. OK, that is slightly cheating because they were at Pukaha Mt Bruce. But first time ever of seeing Manukura the white kiwi, and first time of seeing a kiwi egg hatching! 

Two days ago, I went for a walk down a nearby country lane in the late afternoon. I was walking into the setting sun, but when I turned and headed back, it was just at that moment of early evening when the light becomes translucent and magical. I was trying to think of the words to describe it (like liquid honey poured over the hills, or a filter set in front of your vision) but nothing was true enough for that mix of clear air and honey-gold light.

(Funnily enough, the next day two of the painters here set up their easels outside and were painting clouds, focusing on capturing that same sort of translucent light. Laurence explained it was something to do with the setting sun catching the air particles. So there is a scientific reason.)

It was very quiet apart from some traffic noise from the main highway. The little stream, fringed with bushes and toi toi, wound across the fields, sometimes close by the lane and other times further away, and everything was very green – much more so than in the parched south Wairarapa, because of being in the rain shadow of the Tararuas, looming in the distance.

It made me think about what this area would have been like a hundred years ago for the young men who grew up and worked here, and were then sent off to war on the other side of the world.

Egypt, to start with – no wonder it seemed like such an exotic place (desert, ancient monuments, bazaars, crowded city streets) when they were used to hills coated in early morning  mist or wind in the paddocks. Probably all they knew of Egypt before they left were pictures of the pyramids from encyclopaedias, or of Moses parting the Red Sea from illustrated family Bibles.

And then Gallipoli: steep bush-covered hills that were soon bare of vegetation, once it had been shot away or used as firewood, and deserted by the birds that had flown away to escape the gunfire. This green northern Wairarapa countryside, these trees and fields and rivers and hills were what they would have been thinking of when they thought about home. And the same in the muddy trenches of France and Flanders, in quiet moments behind the lines or when re-reading letters from family, their thoughts would have drifted back to hills, farmland, streams, trees, birds, green grass, clean air, space and quiet.

The signboards at Kaiparoro bridge

More interesting and useful info about the bridge here on the signboards at the entrance to the W.A. Miller scenic reserve. Mr Miller's name also appears on the bridge itself as he was one of the driving forces to get it built, along with Alfred Falkner.

I especially like the wording on this sign: "A journey across the ANZAC bridge reminded travellers of their personal losses. In this way, a local monument became a national monument lingering in the memory of everyone who crossed it."

A walk to the bridge

Yesterday afternoon I went on a walk to the Kaiparoro bridge, which is just up the road from NZ Pacific Studio.

We'd been talking at Mauriceville school about what you might see, hear, smell, feel, taste and remember as you stood at the bridge, and the students came up with such great ideas that I wanted to go back and experience them again.

These are the two bridges, old and new, side by side.

And this must have been the old road (now part of the car park), leading up to the northern side of the bridge. One comment often made about the bridge is that it became an act of remembrance every time someone drove over it.

Despite the busy road, it is still a very peaceful spot.

I like this photo because in the distance you can just see the kiwi sign which I guess refers to Pukaha Mt Bruce a few km furthter on, 

The names on the Brooweena bridge (3)

The seventh name on the Brooweena memorial is that of John Keats. (This was another name that took some finding, as it was spelt wrong.) 

John Keates was born in London, England. He was a stockman and draughtsman and enlisted in Maryborough on 20 September 1916, aged 31. His next of kin was his sister Charlotte in England. John Keates was awarded the Military Medal “for bravery in the field”. He was killed in action on 19 October 1917 in Belgium. His name is on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

The eight name is that of Malcolm Spiden.

Malcolm Tait Spiden was born in Thinoomba (east of Brooweena) to Robert and Margaret Spiden and went to Thinoomba State School. He was a stockman and enlisted at Maryborough on 17 October 1916 with the 47th Australian Infantry Battalion. Malcom Spiden arrived in France in August 1917 and was killed in action on 12 October 1917, aged 24. He is buried at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium. His headstone says: “In lasting memory of the 5^th son of Mr and Mrs Spiden”. A brother, Charles, also went to the war in August 1916 but returned in May 1919. 

His effects included: "5 Pairs Stockings, Pair Boots, Scarf, Shirt, 7 Handkerchiefs, Balaclava, Pair Gloves, Strop, Sopa Box, 2 Purses, Cards, Photos, Holdall”. 

From Malcolm Spiden's Red Cross records. 

The ninth and last name is that of  Wm. C. Brown.

William Charles Brown was the son  of Alfred and Elizabeth Alice Brown of Gayndah, Boompa, Queensland. He served with the Australian Light Horse and died of malaria  on 3 November 1918, aged 28. He is buried at the Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.

Kantara war memorial cemetery

The names on the Brooweena bridge (2)

The fourth name on the Brooweena bridge is that of Geo. R. Bates.

George Richmond Bates was born at Charleville to George and Ellen Maria Bates of Boompa, Queensland. He was a stockman and enlisted on 15 August 1916 at Maryborough, aged 20. Both parents had died and his next of kin was his sister Vera (he had three sisters altogether). George Bates arrived in France in January 1918 and died of wounds on 16 April 1918. He is buried at Vignacourt British Cemetery, France.

I think this is one one of the most poignant letters, from his sister Vera. 

“Dear Sir, On the 25th of last month I received information by telegram from The Military Headquarters Brisbane that my brother No 632 Pte George Richmond Bates had ‘died’ on the 16th April … I have waited patiently for further news, but none has come. Will you kindly do your best to obtain all information about his death. Is there any probability of its being a mistake.  Kindly let me know as soon as you can to relieve my anxiety as the above is my only brother…

Yours Faithfully

Vera E. H. Bates”

But sadly there was no mistake, and his effects eventually turned up at home.

The fifth name is David Boldery.

David William Boldery was born in Maryborough to Thomas and Letitia Boldery. His occuaption was given as a teamster and his address as Aramara on Gayndah Line. His widowed mother Letitia was his next of kin. David Boldery enlisted on 20 October 1916, aged 19 years 8 months. He arrived in France in June 1917 and was killed in action on 28 August 1917 in Belgium, aged 20. His name is on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. 

His effects included “Disc, Letters, Photos, Note book” and his mother wrote to ask if there was any chance of receiving his ring, razor or fountain pen “which he had with him on the battle field”; she also wrote asking to be sent a pamphlet on Graves of the fallen.

"To Officer in Charge, Base Records,

Sir,

I beg to acknowledge the parcel, but am writing to inquire if there was any possible chance of me receiving (Late) Pte D. Boldery’s ring or razor or fountain pen which he had with him on the battle field…

Yours Sincerely

(Mrs) Letitia Smith (nee Boldery)”

David Boldery’s name also appears on the North Aramara War Memorial (north east of Brooweena), built in 1919 by George Greatorex Nichol in memory of his son Edward and nephew David who both died in the war. It was put up at the school which both boys went to (Bowling Green Provisional School) but when that school closed, it moved to North Aramara School. That school also closed in 1948 but the memorial still stands in the school grounds, together with a plaque put there in the 1980s by descendants of George Nichol. 

North Aramara War Memorial (Photographs supplied by John Huth)

The sixth name is E.D.Nichol. 

Edward Nichol was born at Maryborough to George Gratorex and Frances Margaret Nichol of Aramara, Queensland. He was also a teamster and enlisted at Maryborough on 26 October 1916. Edward Nichol was killed in action on 9 August 1918 aged 25. He is buried at Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres, France. His headstone reads: “Sacred to memory” (chosen by "Mrs F M Nichol, Aramara, Gayndah Line Q’ld").