At the Lang Lang State School the Monash Memorial Committee presented the school with a memorial volume last week. Memorial trees were planted in the school grounds.
The Age had a fuller report a few days previously -
The Monash Memorial Committee, chaired by Major-General Sir Thomas Blamey was established to erect a memorial to General Sir John Monash who died on October 8, 1931. General Monash was a Civil engineer, a soldier, chairman of the Shrine of Remembrance construction body and manager of the State Electricity Commission. The Memorial took the form of a statue and was finally unveiled on November 12, 1950. It was designed by William Leslie Bowles and is in Kings Domain. The statue was well under way in 1939, but the Second World War caused the understandable delay in the completion of the statue (read more here)
(The Age, April 25, 1935, see here)
I wondered if there was some connection between members of the Monash Memorial Committee and the town of Lang Lang and that is why they received the books, but I can find nothing obvious. Lang Lang School may have raised funds for the Monash Memorial, as this was encouraged by the Education Department, as we can see by the newspaper article, below. But I feel sure that other schools would also have raised funds and yet I can find no reference to them receiving books in honour of the General Monash's memory, let alone receiving them twice, as Lang Lang appears to have.
There are a few questions that I cannot answer - what were the titles of the books and what sort of trees were planted? Do the books still exist and are the trees still living?
Before we finish, we will have a look at the people mentioned in this post -
Buckland, John Leslie Gibson (1887 - 1956, incorrectly listed as Huckland in the 1935 newspaper report). Captain Gibson gave the Anzac Day address at Lang Lang in 1935. He was born in Werris Creek in New South Wales, enlisted in December 1914 and was awarded both the Military Cross and the Military Medal. He also served in the Second World War, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Mr Gibson was a consulting electrical engineer, when he was not serving in the Army. See his WW1 service record at the National Archives if Australia here https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3161727 and his WW2 record here https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6617273
Hinkler, Herbert John 'Bert' (1892 -1933) - aviator who served in the Royal Naval Air Service in the Great War. Read his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography here https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hinkler-herbert-john-bert-6680
Jacka, Albert (1893 -1932) - was the first Australian awarded the Victoria Cross in World War One. Read his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography here
Knox, Hilda (1883 - 1917) - Army Nurse, who died of illness whilst serving in France. Her obituary mentions that after her death, her parents received many letters from around Australia - One lady wrote to Mr Knox that her only son was in the 4th L.H., and was in the ward in a hospital in Egypt of which Sister Knox had charge. He had been nursed by her, and spoke of the unfailing attention which they had received. He said, "We used to watch the door for her to come in. Every man of us loved her, and called her 'Our Daughter of the Regiment.'
Peters, Charles Harold (1889 - 1951) - connected to the Monash Memorial Committee. Enlisted in 1916, awarded the Military Cross and Bar. His peace time occupation was a bookseller, he worked at Melville & Mullens. He returned to that occupation after the War and rose to be the Managing Director of Robertson & Mullens (which later became Angus & Robertson). Read his obituary in The Herald of January 10, 1951, here.
