Kojonup adds 14 previously unlisted service members’ names to memorial
In the Australian farming town of Kojonup, located 260 kilometres south of Perth, 14 previously unlisted names of service members from the First and Second World Wars were added to the list of fallen during the centenary commemoration of the Memorial Hall. This was reported by ABC News Australia.
Two new memorial plaques were installed on the building, each engraved with seven names. The Memorial Hall in Kojonup was built in 1926 with funds from the local community to honour residents who died during the First World War.
Search for missing names
Local historian Robert Sexton helped establish the names of the men who, for various reasons, were not included on the marble memorial plaques. He suggested that poor communications in 1914–1918 may have been the reason: if a family left the district, the information might not have arrived in time to amend the list.
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According to Sexton, a total of 70 people from Kojonup died in the two world wars. He noted that these losses were significant for a small farming community, and that descendants of First and Second World War participants still live among its residents.
Commemoration ceremony
District chairman Roger Bilney said that about 150 people gathered for the ceremony. During the event, the “Last Post” was sounded in the Memorial Hall in memory of those killed in the two world wars.
According to Bilney, these people had been forgotten to some extent, and most of them died in battle and have no known burial places. He added that the memorial would become a place where they would be remembered. The ceremony was also attended by 99-year-old former district chairman Arnold Bilney, who has lived in Kojonup all his life.
