Boer War Soldiers plaque, Peace Memorial Library, Colac

On September 12, 1901 the Peace Memorial Library was opened in Colac, as a permanent memorial when peace is declared in South Africa (1). The War, known as the Second Boer War or the South African War, ended on May 31, 1902.

In June 1902, a brass plaque was installed in the front porch of the Library. It had the following inscription This tablet commemorates the death, in the cause of the Empire, of four young men of this district - Edgar Quartus Robertson, Noel Leonard Calvert and Arthur Edward Murphy, who were killed whilst lighting in South Africa, and of Thomas Yates, who died immediately upon his return to Victoria, 1901 (2). The plaque was 27 inches by 21 inches.

The plaque was stolen at the end of July in 1953 (3). The stealing of the plaque commemorating local soldiers is bad enough and shows a lack of respect to the men and their families, but this act contributed to the demolition of the Peace Memorial Library in 1970.  Members of the Colac and District Historical Society petitioned the Council to save the building and although the building was known to be a Peace Memorial, documentation to substantiate this was incomplete. The details of its true identity were preserved in a large brass plaque which, complete with the names of Boer War veterans, was attached to the south wall. Without this evidence the Shire of Colac committed an act of official vandalism and demolished the Peace Memorial Library. (4).

The Peace Memorial Library, Colac, c. 1908.

Photographer: T.R.G. Williams.

State Library of Victoria Image H96.200/1533

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Footnotes
(1) The Age, 13 September 1901, read.
(2) The Age, 17 June, 1902, read.

(3) The Argus, 3 August, 1953, read.
(4) Mcintosh, Ida Forest, Lake and Plain: the history of Colac 1888-1988. City of Colac, 1988, p. 35.