4 Autumn 2022
OUR HISTORY
OUR TOWN HALL There’s a memorial at the top of the winding marble staircase at the Footscray Town Hall that some may pass without a second glance, while the enlightened linger, hair on end at the seemingly never ending rows of names – more than 2,000 names of locals – who served in World War I (1914-18).
B
ill Horrocks, who is a former Mayor of the City of Maribyrnong and former President of the Footscray Historical Society, is one of the enlightened ones. He places a gentle hand on the Honour Board’s gold painted names. “It’s probably the largest honour board in Australia, a quarter of those names are of deceased soldiers – didn’t come back – and not every Footscray person is on that board,” he notes. Made with Blackwood panels and rounded pillars, it records the names of soldiers from Yarraville and Footscray who served in the Great War. Originally designed to support 1,200 names, the Honour Board doubled in size to accommodate the expanding list of locals enlisting, which by August 1917 had significantly increased. At the time of his presidency of the historic
