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A Medallion of King George V on the Colac War Memorial - Memorial Square, Murray Street, Colac

Standing in the middle of Memorial Square in the heart of Colac, facing Murray Street is the Colac War Memorial.

 

Built rather like a classical temple of Roman or Grecian origin, the war memorial is built of sandstone and was erected as a tribute to those who both fought and died in the Great War (1914 - 1918), but it has been supplemented with plaques to other conflicts that occurred in later times. The shrine is engraved "1914 The Shire's Tribute 1918" and features places where conflict took place during the Great War; Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine, Flanders, Pozieres, Polygon Wood, Bullecourt, Paschendale, Viller Brettoneux and Mont St Quinton. The Colac War Memorial was unveiled by Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Chauvel (1865 - 1945) on the 15th November, 1924. The cost of the memorial was ₤3600.00 and it was built by the monument manufacturers Sale and Keape. There are the names of 1665 men who had enlisted during the war. Those who died as a result of the conflict have their names picked out in gold lettering. A pine tree taken as a cutting from the original Lone Pine tree in Galippoli has been planted at the rear of the shrine on a lush piece of lawn.

 

Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac. The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray. A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains. The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches. The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name. The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it. Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city. Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people. Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets. Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).

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Uploaded on June 17, 2014
Taken on April 22, 2014