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Mother's Day 2026

A brief informal service to celebrate Mother's Day will be held at the Garden of the Grieving Mother adjacent to the Arch of Victory in Sturt Street at 10 am on Sunday, May 10th.  Members of the public are invited to attend and place flowers at the feet of Peter Corlett's wonderful statue of the Grieving Mother, either at the completion of the service or any time during the day.

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Anzac Day 2026

A large crowd attended the 8am 2026 Anzac Day service at the Memorial Wall, adjacent to the Arch of Victory in Sturt Street.  This year the NZ in ANZAC was honoured by recognising New Zealanders with Ballarat connections who served with the AIF, along with Australians who served in New Zealand units.  Of the thirty-six soldiers and one nurse identified, seventeen lost their lives.  

The president of the Arch of Victory / Avenue of Honour Committee, Garry Snowden, conveyed some of those stories to the assembled crowd.  Perhaps the most tragic story is that of the Phelan brothers, originally from Enfield, just south of Ballarat. Francis Phelan served with our 39th Infantry Battalion and came home from the war, but he had three brothers who all died while serving with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.

Another sad story is that of the Popplewell siblings, Edith and Cecil, who were both born in New Zealand but educated at Ballarat’s Dana St State School. Edith trained as a nurse at the Ballarat Base Hospital before returning to New Zealand. At the outbreak of war, Cecil joined the AIF but was killed at Gallipoli. On hearing of her brother’s death, Edith Joined the New Zealand Army Nursing Service. She was destined to be remembered for her courage and endurance when a ship carrying a group of nurses was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea.

The President of the New Zealand RSL, Victoria Branch, attended the service, along with former New Zealand serviceman, Bob Maika, who sang the New Zealand national anthem and Ballarat girl Freya McGowan who sang the Australian anthem.

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Remembrance Day 2025

On Remembrance day this year, a crowd of about one hundred people braved a chilly Ballarat morning to gather at the Memorial Wall, next to the Arch of Victory, for a short service to commemorate the end of the First World War. Those honoured included one nurse and twenty-three soldiers who lost their lives within sight of the end of the War, all of whom are recognised with trees in the adjacent Avenue of Honour. The twenty-four names were called by students from Ballarat High School, each name accompanied by the tolling of a bell.  Garry Snowden, President of the Arch of Victory / Avenue of Honour Committee, told stories of some of those who served.

Those honoured included:

• eighteen year old Thomas Veal, from Ford Street in Ballarat East who enlisted in 1915, served at Gallipoli then in France, and tragically died of Spanish flu ten days before the war ended.
• the Tait brothers, Lawrence and Robert from Barkly Street, who died in different parts of the world in the last three weeks of the war.
• Sister Gertrude Munro, from Alfredton, who had served for more than two years, mostly treating infectious diseases, before she succumbed just a month before the Armistice was signed.

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Commemorative Service - August 2025

About 70 people braved a cold Ballarat winter morning on Sunday August 17th to remember those who died as a result of tragic accidents during World War 1.  Some of their stories were shared by Arch of Victory / Avenue of Honour President, Garry Snowden, like that of Otto Davies who was run over by a horse-drawn wagon and William Paisley who was killed by a lightning strike.  A number of floral tributes were laid at the foot of the Memorial Wall, adjacent to the Arch of Victory.

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Mother's Day 2025

The annual informal Mother's day service was held in the Garden of the Grieving Mother on Sunday May 11th.  A small crowd of around 60 people heard stories of mothers left behind and left floral tributes at the feet of Peter Corlett's statue of the Grieving Mother.