Beyond the Front Line

02/10/2026

Huge congratulations to the Batlow RSL Club on their latest initiative. 👏
Can't wait to have our first coffee at The Mess.

OUR VISION FOR THE MESS:

This concept image has been created to show the look, feel and atmosphere we hope to achieve. The final design and finishes may vary as the space comes together.

27/09/2026

FAMILY

On the 21st September 1965, Christine Cox (nee Butz), visited the grave of her uncle Lloyd Peel in the Hanover War Cemetery in Germany.
In her diary Chris mentions - "Was up at 7am.
Dressed, packed etc had breakfast (Ryvita biscuits and cheese), caught tram into station, despatched cases and took another tram (No.3) to British War Cemetery. We had to walk about 1/2 hour from where tram let us off. We asked an English man where to find U Lloyd's grave and then took photos. I arranged flowers and looked around the very beautifully gardened cemetery. We then signed the visitors book and read the registry of soldiers".
After that Chris and her friend Betina made their way back into town.
Nearly 59 years to the day, Jo made that same trip on a tram and walked the same path to the Hanover War Cemetery to visit the grave of her Great Uncle Lloyd, and stood in the same place as her mum had done all those years before.
The pilgrimage, for many reasons, was complete. As far as we know one other family member has made that same trip.

Lloyd Peel was a native of Laurel Hill near Batlow and was working as a Tally Clerk at a local mill when he volunteered to join the Royal Australian Air Force during WW2. Originally trying his hand at flying, in his own words "I was scrubbed from pilot training" and Lloyd became an Air Gunner.
Upon completion of his training Lloyd travelled to England as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme and served with 51 Squadron, Royal Air Force.
On the 31st March 1944, whilst undertaking his first mission, Lloyd's Halifax bomber was shot down over Germany. Lloyd and four other crew members were lost while two survived.

All these years later Lloyd continues to be remembered by his family, and his story continues to evolve.
Lately further records, including eyewitness accounts of that fateful night, and the photo below have surfaced. We continue to tell his story.

06/09/2026

On the evening of the 15th August 1945, the community of Batlow gathered at their small cenotaph in Memorial Park to remember those lost during WW2. Among the names read out that night was a J Peters.
Today those names are listed on our WW2 Roll of Honour on the cenotaph that stands at the entrance to Memorial Park, all that is, except for the name J Peters. So who was he?

John Peters was born in Eastbourne, England on the 26th September 1917, that making him a WW1 baby.
After that he doesn't surface again until 1939 when he was listed on an electoral roll in Australia as living at Yarrawonga (a property at Laurel Hill) and being employed as a labourer.
On the 17th June 1940 John enlisted for service with the 2nd AIF in Tumut and on the 1st July he marched into camp at Wagga. His locality upon enlistment was again Laurel Hill.

Taken on Strength with the 2/19th Battalion, by the 2nd February 1941 John had boarded the Queen Mary in Sydney and was on his way to Singapore as part of the 8th Division.
Disembarking on the 18th February 1941, John would spend time in Malaya, the only mention in his file at the time stated he had a short spell in hospital on the 1st March suffering from a case of mumps.
With the Japanese invasion of Malaya (8 Dec. '41) and Singapore (8 Feb. '42) John would be caught up in the fighting trying to defend the countries. Sadly at some point John was wounded in action and due to the confusion at the time his record is also a little confusing.
On the 15th February 1942, the day Singapore surrendered to the Japanese, John was listed as "Missing believed killed in action".
The next day, 16 February, John was again listed as "Missing" but then on the same day he was listed as having Died of Wounds after having been a prisoner of the Japanese for one day.

Going back to when John enlisted, when asked about his next of kin, he would list a man by the name of Andrew Banks as his Guardian, there was and wouldn't be any mention of any parents.
Andrew Banks was an English WW1 veteran who had been promoted to the rank of Captain and was awarded the Military Cross, he saw action on the Western Front and also Russia at the end of the war. He later famously declared that he bribed his way into the English Army due to being blind in one eye.

After the war Andrew Banks emigrated to Australia and became a grazier in Western Australia, by 1939 he and his wife Gwendoline were listed as Graziers and owners of the property Yarrawonga at Laurel Hill.
It seems that Andrew Banks was the reason for John Peters being remembered in Batlow on that August night in 1945.
Not long after that Andrew Banks decided he wanted to move back to Western Australia, the local paper reporting - "Captain Andrew Banks MC is very anxious to sell for health reasons and go back to WA. On his area of 1,950 acres there is some very nice country, and it is estimated that not less than five settlers could be placed there and approx. 500 acres would be suitable for forestry purposes".

Andrew Banks returned to Western Australia and with him he took the memory of John Peters, as a record held by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra states that the only memorial John is remembered on is the one at Fairbridge in WA.
At some point after John's death he was buried in the Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore, his headstone giving his details along with the epitaph - AN OLD FAIRBRIDIGIAN.
As Andrew Banks was the next of kin the epitaph could have only been supplied by him.
John's grave can be found in Plot 1, Row D, Grave 19.
In September 2023 we visited Singapore and the Kranji War Cemetery, at the time we weren't aware of John Peters or his connection to our area which sadly meant we missed visiting him. Thankfully after going through our photos we found we accidentally have a photo with his headstone in it.

At some point we'll return to Singapore to visit John, there's a lot more to his story than meets the eye.

18/08/2026

Vietnam Veterans Day and the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan,
18 August 2026.
To the veterans and their families, today we say thank you.
The two images below are both moments caught in time and mean so much, not just today, but every day.

The first was taken along the Kokoda Track on the 27th May 2019 - after spending ten days trekking with -
Private John Peter Redfern
Service Number 3791313
1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment

it's something that I'll never forget.
Good on you Johnnie and cheers to you mate.

The second image is of the opening of the Long Tan Cross display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, taken on this day in 2018. So many memories from that day.

LEST WE FORGET.

17/08/2026

A bit distracted this morning.

Sitting at the desk and attempting to make a start, I find myself looking at the picture of the 10 men from Batlow who enlisted for service during WW1 at Cootamundra in August 1915.

One man in particular stands out today, George Blackman standing on the far right was killed in action on this day 110 years ago. Lost during the fighting at Mouquet Farm near Pozieres, George has no known grave and to this day remains missing, his name is inscribed on the National Memorial to the Missing at Villers-Bretonneux in France.

George was originally from England and had come out to Australia before the war, at the time of his enlistment he was working on an orchard here in Batlow.
The thing with George is that, for whatever reason, any record of him in Batlow, which includes our Cenotaph, Roll of Honour, any newspaper reports and the original photo of the group - all have him listed as George Blackburn. I can't explain why.

After a four year search looking for anyone with the surname Blackburn with a link to Batlow, we accidentally came across a George Blackman from Batlow on an Embarkation Roll. At the time we were looking into the names of men in a photo from Adelong and ironically the proof of the error can be found in George's service file which is under Blackman, something we may never have looked at otherwise.

I'll always be grateful to James Hayes from Adelong for reaching out that day, if he hadn't we may never have found George Blackman.

I'm glad we did.

15/08/2026

With today being the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day (VP Day) or Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day), it marked the end of World War Two.
That got me to thinking, how did Batlow react to the news?
The following is from the Tumut and Adelong Times from Tuesday 21st August 1945 and describes what was happening in Batlow 81 years ago tonight.

"BATLOW CELEBRATES THE PEACE

Batlow received the magic word PEACE last Wednesday morning with a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm; but with the exodus by special train of a large contingent of the Land Army girls enroute to Sydney to participate in the big Victory Parade on Thursday, proceedings quietened considerably and the organised celebrations at night were conducted very orderly, though none-the-less enthusiastically.

All business houses promptly closed down, but many people were surprised to hear one of the mills in operation all day and to see men in another undertaking seeing the day out on quite non-essential work, it seemed hardly in keeping with the spirit of the occasion.

Naturally the dehydration plant could not close down at a moments notice and, as a matter of fact, the management was faced with a big job when the majority of the girls knocked off more or less in the middle of a shift.

Arrangements were very hurriedly made for the Land Army to leave for Sydney to participate in the Victory March; a special train was authorised to Gilmore, but as only the regular single-passenger coach was available to comprise the train, it certainly meant a "tight fit". However, the girls were in high spirits and were quite happy to be packed 152 strong into accommodation nominally for 32 passengers.

The organised celebrations at night commenced at 7.30pm with a combined service in the main hall of the Literary Institute. A huge crowd attended and joined fervently in singing a few simple hymns beloved of all people. Short addresses were given by Rev. Alexander and Rev. Dundas, and the chairman, Mr. N.L Quarmby, apologised for the absence of Rev. Brown and of Mr G.F Briggs, chairman of the Patriotic Committee.

After the service a procession was formed and proceeded to the Memorial Gates at the park, where wreaths were laid on behalf of various public bodies.
The procession made an inspiring and impressive sight as it wound its way under the canopy of trees, its way lighted by a line of flaming torches and an occasional coloured flare fired high above the tree tops. At the gates the ceremony was reverent in its simplicity; two minutes silence to observe the memory of those fallen, the reading of the roll of honour and the placing of the wreaths. Names of those fallen, as read by the President of the Returned Soldiers League were:
L Mouat, L Ayling, R Bryant, Cliff Lucas, K Broome, L Peel, G Herring, O Bretell, W Colemane, A Smith, J Peters, A Edwards and L Bunter.
A huge bonfire built near the Memorial Gates was lit from the torches, and as that died down the big crowd drifted back to the Institute, where a free impromptu dance went merrily on until the early hours of the morning.

On Thursday there was very little activity, especially after a further contingent of the Land Army had left to spend a long weekend at Wagga and local folk seemed quite content to quietly meditate on their good fortune in having experienced so very little of the real consequences of six years of war".

Having spent some time lately researching some of the Batlow men who were involved in the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, today my thoughts are with them and all those who served in World War Two.
And as far as the article goes, you can see what the Land Army girls meant to the town at the time as well as the importance of the Literary Institute as a meeting place for the residents, its not the first time I've come across gathering's that were held there back in the day.

One other piece of information caught my eye as well, the anomaly in the names read out on the night to those listed on the cenotaph.
J Peters name is missing from our Memorial, today we found him.

06/08/2026

And to close this special day out, we remember my Great Grandfather who died on the night of the 6th/7th August 1918 while serving with the Australian Imperial Force in France during WW1.

Wrathall - In loving memory of my dear son and our dear father, Sapper William Wrathall, killed on active service August 7, 1918.
"He was only a sapper in battle, just one of the rank and file, he was there when duty called him, and laid down his life with a smile.
He wore no glittering medals, to his name was no VC, he died for home and loved ones, to set Australia free".
Inserted by his loving mother and children, Kathleen, Vera and Keith.

Wrathall - In loving memory of my dear brother, Sapper William Wrathall, killed on active service August 7, 1918.
"A loving brother, true and kind, no friend like him on earth we'll find, for all of us he did his best, may god grant him eternal rest".
Inserted by his loving sister.

Two memorial notices placed in The Mercury Newspaper in Hobart on Friday 7 August 1925.
All these years later William, you're not forgotten.

06/08/2026

The 6th of August is always a special day for us here at Beyond the Front Line and today it started with the placement of Private Francis Green's portfolio on display to remember the 111th anniversary of his death during the Battle of Lone Pine at Gallipoli.

Francis is the eighth man listed on our WW1 Cenotaph here in Batlow but because he was originally from Braidwood near Canberra, there is no mention of Batlow anywhere in his records - it was quite the journey to find him.

It wasn't until we discovered a short paragraph in the Adelong and Tumut Express and Tumbarumba Post from Friday the 10th November 1917 that we had our first clue -
"Long ago, Frank Green, only a casual man here went to the soldiers sleep on Gallipoli".

That short paragraph took us halfway around the world to remember Frank, may he never be forgotten.

31/07/2026

Today, we were very generously gifted five copies of the PIX magazine from 1941. With the dates ranging from the 26th July through to the 22nd November, the last one was published only weeks before the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbour.

With plenty of stories in them, there is a few articles referring to the war and what was going on at the time.

One edition that got my attention was November 8, it has a four page spread of Australian troops from the 8th Division who were in Malaya at the time.
Within the space of three months, if they survived the fighting, all of those photographed would be prisoners of the Japanese after the fall of Singapore on the 15th February 1942.

All except three that is, they have an interesting story to say the very least. If you've heard of General Gordon Bennett, you'll know.

Spending the afternoon going through the names of those photographed to see who may have survived, I found that some did come home and sadly some didn't.

The other thing that goes through my mind is, do those men photographed still have family, and if so, have they ever seen these photos of them?

30/07/2026

Throwback Thursday

With all the hype about the new movie The Oddysey, it got me to thinking about our trip to Turkiye to visit Gallipoli. Staying in the coastal city of Cannakle, besides being our base from which we visited the battlefields it was also close to the ancient city of Troy which we also got to visit.
To be honest I wasn't overly impressed that the itinerary took us away from Gallipoli to visit Troy, but I'm glad it did, it was well worth it. And to top it off the Trojan Horse that was used in the movie Troy starring Brad Pitt and Eric Bana was gifted to to city of Cannakle which we also got to inspect.
I guess at some point we'll have to catch up with the new epic.