Nieces and nephews of Bill Lynn of ‘Fairleigh’ Jarrahmond near Orbost gathered over the ANZAC Day weekend to remember their uncle who was killed during WWII.
Niece, Jacki Tossol daughter of Jack and Lu Trewin, both originally from Jarrahmond, addressed those gathered at the Jarrahmond afternoon ANZAC Day service.
Her address is as follows:
“Planning of the Jarrahmond Avenue of Honour was initiated after the end of WWII by members of the Jarrahmond Social Club.
“The avenue started at Lynn’s Gulch, at the bottom of Abbey and Hazel Trewin’s ‘Hillview’ property and was intended to extend from the Gulch along the B Road, passing by ‘Greendale’, the Russell family’s farm and finishing at the gates of ‘Fairleigh’, the property of Keith and Rene Lynn, which is just behind us.
“However, a flood on the Snowy River in the late 1940s destroyed the initial plantings.
“Later, a second replacement avenue was planned.
“This avenue was designed to avoid the flood prone gulch and instead connect ‘Fairleigh’ and ‘Greendale’.
“The link between these two properties is significant. Both the Russell and Lynn families lost sons in WWII.
“Mack Russell of ‘Greendale’ lost his life in a tragic training accident at Puckapunyal, and Bill Lynn, of ‘Fairleigh’ was killed in an air training accident in northern England.
“Jan, Billy, Helen, Neil and Vicki, the children of Clyde Lynn, Bill’s older brother, are here today.
“They grew up on ‘Fairleigh’ and some of their earliest memories are of bucketing water to the newly planted trees in the second Avenue of Honour located along from where we stand today.
“As time moved on after the Second World War, people’s attention was diverted away from the bleak war years, and the energy and commitment to completing the second Avenue of Honour waned. It was never finished and did not extend far enough from ‘Fairleigh’ to reach ‘Greendale’s’ front gate.
“After approximately 60 years, the condition of those flowering peach and cherry trees from the second planting, deteriorated until eventually they were removed.
“Whilst the second world war ended 71 years ago, the ripple effect from the tragic losses attributed to that war remains.
“I am one of the 10 descendants of Keith and Rene Lynn of ‘Fairleigh’ present today.
“We are all nieces and nephews of Bill Lynn. None of us met him. But our parents who loved him so much and grieved so profoundly told us much about him. Though unseen and unheard, Bill’s light still shines brightly for us today.
“Some of us, including Marylu, Treena, Prue, Keith, Helen and I, along with other family members and previous Jarrahmond residents who knew Bill, have visited his final resting place in the Harrogate war cemetery in northern England.
“But it is here, at Jarrahmond, in the countryside he wrote home about missing so much, where we remember him most strongly.
“We are grateful for the efforts of the RSL, Jarrahmond Land Care and the Honourable Darren Chester, the Federal Member for Gippsland, in upgrading this site, which is a source of comfort to Jarrahmond families, and a physical reminder of the depth and longevity of the impacts of war.
“Lest we forget.”
