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There is no sensation quite like that felt when discovering, for the first time, that those seemingly long forgotten, fragmented and fading memories related to you by your grandmother, regarding the brother who went on the " big adventure " and never returned, come flooding back at the sight of a photograph never before seen. The young man, standing straight, tall and proud in his AIF uniform, I discovered, was my grandmothers elder brother. Although my father and I had both played cricket for the Lavington club, I had never fully understood how entwined my life was with this community, it was always just the fact that my grandmother came from there, and it was never given another thought. I had walked in and out of the Urana Road Oval on numerous occasions, and not once had I taken any notice of the plaques that adorn the gateway that is the entrance. There for all to see are the names of the men and in some instances, boys, from the Lavington area, who had served their country in WW1, and the names at the top of the list, preceded by a small cross, are the men who made the ultimate sacrifice, among those is my grand uncle, Henry James Livermore. I hadn't realised how synonymous the Livermore name was with the Lavington area, until I had been bitten by the genealogy bug, discovering that the first arrival was by William Livermore, the only son of convict parents, Thomas Livermore and Elizabeth Dewsnap, circa 1853 and then, after his marriage to Maria Norris in 1854, the family finally settling at Black Range, some time between March 1864 and July 1865, the previous years having been spent in Tasmania.
The marriage between William and Maria was to produce twelve children, the second eldest being Thomas, who married Barbara Fugger in Albury on the 20th May 1886, with this union, the population of the Lavington area increased by another ten, including my grandmother, Harriet, and Henry James. No.2410 Private Henry James Livermore enlisted in the AIF on the 3rd August 1915, facing the enemy of the King for the first time at Pozières almost twelve months to the date of his enlistment, 2nd August 1916, and, on the second day of intense fighting, 4th August, Henry received a gunshot wound to the chest and was evacuated to the 22nd General Hospital at Camiers. After spending time in and out of hospital with recurring bouts of “ trench feet “ and, like so many other young men of the time, incurring the odd charge for wayward behaviour, Henry rejoined the 18th Battalion in January 1917. A short time later, the Battalion was included in plans for the British Army's Arras offensive, in an attempt to secure the fortified village of Bullecourt. The Australian troops entered the attack at 3:45am on the 3rd May 1917 and suffered casualties of enormous proportions, Henry James Livermore was one of the fallen. He is buried at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in Northern France, and, at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, there is a plaque, No.86, depicting the location of Henry's name in the Commemorative Area. It still amazes me how one small photograph has had the power to send me on such a journey, discovering just how important family, and the area they were brought up in is, to enable you to obtain a clearer understanding of when, where and why, other than trying to rely on those fading, threadbare memories of times past. Acknowledgments and sources for the above information and the accompanying picture : Meryl Anne Thomas nee Vonthien Ann Collins Australian War Memorial National Archives of Australia Commonwealth War Grave Commission Archives Office of Tasmania Convict Index State Records NSW
