Last year's edition about Christie Johnstone, the Tucks etc was superb and this year's is just as good.
There are some articles of general interest such as the first shots in both world wars being fired from Pt Nepean, the fact that those who survived the conflict still paid a price mentally and physically,a look at the Nazi mystique outlining novels based on the regime's evil intentions,Alan Moore of Mt Eliza, a Frankston recruit who changed his name, and a drum that barked like a dog.

Once again,there are also articles which contain well-researched local history and genealogy. Articles about Anzacs from the Coxhell and Brunning/Shaw families take us back to the arrival of these families on the peninsula. Thomas Coxhell, who was born in Middlesex in 1825, married Theresa Anne Tynan on 17-9-1857 at St Francis Church,Melbourne. Theresa was born in Dublin in 1831 and arrived in Port Phillip in 1855,her passage on the "Western Bride" having been paid by Mr Balcombe of "The Briars" with whom she had contracted to work as a ladies' maid for a year for 20 pounds. In 1862,Thomas bought land at Osborne which overlooked The Briars. He worked as a brickmaker at the Mornington Brickworks. The Brunning family arrived in Somerville in 1866 and as detailed by Leila Shaw in her THE WAY WE WERE, achieved fame as nurserymen,the Brunnings gardening guide becoming the bible for keen gardeners.

William Shaw, who was born in Maffra in 1890, was a farm labourer living with his father in Oakleigh when he enlisted in 1916 at the age of 26 but his father had moved to Tyabb during the next two years. William was shot in the knee while carrying a message to H.Q.near the River Jordan at 8 a.m. on 1-5-1918 and it was several days before he was brought in. Ironically he survived because of the maggots which fed on the infection but his leg had to be amputated. It was doubtful that he would survive and as he lay in the tent hospital at Gaza, he pledged to call his first son Gaza if he pulled through. William Jnr,known as Gaza,married Leila Brunning and served in W.W.2.

Leila Shaw's father, Bill Brunning, donated land for a Soldiers'Memorial Park at Somerville in 1949 but because the returned servicemen from W.W.2 wanted the memorial to be of use to the community,it was to take the form of an infant welfare centre. What a mistake! I'm a big fan of Aldi supermarkets but they don't make me think of our ANZACS!