George Bessbell, Robert Boxshall, Mrs. Hall (Stimpson), Mr Hall, Mr. Smith (Station Master), Pte. Bill Stimpson (seated) Sgt Alan Bruton (Standing).

The Longwarry Soldiers Memorial League was formed in July 1916 with the expressed purpose of raising funds to construct a permanent memorial to the district men and women who served in World War 1.

The Memorial was completed and dedicated on November 12^th. 1919, it is the same Memorial around which the community gather today, to remember all who have served in all conflicts.

A secondary purpose of the League was to give a public reception to the returning diggers and nurses.

Not everyone returned home at the same time, so there were many of these welcome home receptions that were greeted with great joy as their sons and daughters had survived the war, and also because after speeches by leading men in the community, there was generally music from the Longwarry Brass Band with dancing and a large supper.

Receiving their welcome home after the war in 1919 are Pte. William “Bill” Stimpson (seated) and  Sgt. Alan Bruton (standing).

Alan Bruton was a blacksmith and had taken over his father’s Longwarry blacksmith shop prior to enlisting on September 14^th 1914.

In May 1915 he joined his older brother Lyster at Gallipoli. Lyster was an “original” that is, he was one of the men who landed at Gallipoli on April 25^th 1915.

Both men were attached to the 2^nd Field Company of Engineers and after Gallipoli they served on the Western Front.

Lyster Bruton never returned home to his reception, on January  27^th. 1917 he was killed in action at the Somme Valley.

Alan Bruton returned to Longwarry and continued his blacksmith business.

He lived where the Kindergarten is now located and the workshop was just two doors down on what is now a vacant block in Princes Way.

A third younger brother, Roland Bruton also enlisted in 1917 and later returned home to his own reception.

Bill Stimpson was a sawmill labourer in Longwarry and enlisted on August 27^th. 1914. He was attached to the 3rd Artillery Battalion on the Western Front as a Driver of ammunition, taking it from the depots to the artillery

on the front line.

Like Alan Bruton, Bill Stimpson had a brother, Charles Stimpson, who was also serving on the Western Front and like Alan Bruton, his brother Charles Stimpson never returned home to his reception, as he was killed in action at Fromelles on October 27^th. 1916.

Bill returned to the family home on Sand Road in 1919.

We are grateful to Mrs. Gwen Donalson who provided the photograph that her mother, Mrs. Enid Folwell, had preserved and thoughtfully recorded the names of those pictured.