For some years I have been intrigued by the names on the Dowerin War Memorial.  Some are familiar and the families are still in the district, some are unfamiliar.  I have wanted to know who they are, and my initial aim was to find all the World War 1 names, to know who they were, what they were doing in the Dowerin district, and where and how they died.

Although I have done my best, there are still a few names that I cannot certainly identify.  There are many more names that are not represented here by a photograph.  But my goal is to continue this work, to include the rolls of honour, and eventually to compile, with help from a range of people, a biographical dictionary of Dowerin.  By making the story so far public, I hope that those who know other parts of the story, who have photographs and other documents may be happy to share them.  I know these men were precious to their families.

On the war memorial they are organized alphabetically; a few names should or could be there but are not.  I have arranged the names by the time of their death, attempting to tell some of the many stories of the war from the perspective of Dowerin shire as it was then.  It is important to me that, when we say each ANZAC Day that we will remember them, we have some idea of who and what we are remembering.  I hope you find some of this as interesting as I found the research and compilation.

Diane Hatwell