This on-line presentation of about 988 men and two women who enlisted for military service between 1914 and 1918 was made possible with an Anzac Centenary Local Grant approved by a committee appointed by the Federal Member for Curtin, the Hon. Julie Bishop MP and endorsed by the Federal Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Senator the Hon. Michael Ronaldson.
The Cottesloe RSL is also grateful to the Mayors and Councillors of the Towns of Cottesloe and Mosman Park and the President and Council of the Shire of Peppermint Grove who voted to contribute to the publication of a limited edition of this research.
We thank the community churches and schools for access to WW1 Honour Rolls in their care. Unfortunately the Roman Catholic Honour Board was transferred from the church to the hall many years ago and is now lost. Another lost Honour Roll was that of the Ocean Beach (29) Troop Boy Scouts, later the Mosman Park Scouts. Fortunately, Bob Waterhouse, whose grandfather formed that Scout Troop in his Peppermint Grove backyard, had a photograph of the Honour Roll that includes the names of young men, one only 15 years and eleven months, who enlisted to go to war. John and David Burridge found a c1920 miniature of the Cottesloe Claremont Rifle Club members who served in WW1. In my quest I shared discoveries with Cottesloe Primary School, Cottesloe Surf Clubs, Scotch College, the University of WA, tennis clubs and with Shannon Lovelady, who made a marvellous contribution to military history by identifying the Western Australians who were killed or died at Gallipoli. Near the entrance to the underground car park at the Grove Library is the Honour Roll of the Ancient Order of Druids Acorn Lodge 463 (Cottesloe). The most amazing discovery was in the RSL (WA) archives; a large linen banner embroidered with the names of local WW1 soldiers listed by denomination.
With the assistance of Lynne Mannolini and Anne Barwood we have taken this project far beyond my initial goal. I thank my wife Mary, for her constant support throughout what proved to be an unexpectedly long and difficult task. Bret Christian, of the community newspaper, Post, who has been with us on this project and his reports on progress have been most encouraging.
Finally, the Cottesloe RSL is grateful to Giles Tovey, Martin Shearwood and Prashant Umakanthan of CreativeADM, located in Floreat, for their work in creating the website and agreeing to waive the costs of loading the 190 pages of WW1 soldier data linked to a five page index.
