western australia: perth

We raced up to Perth from Walpole, stopped in Bridgeton for lunch. Sadly we didn't have the time to stop at Donnybrook Apple Park but if you've got kids in the car you'd either better make sure you do have time to stop or they are asleep. One word. Epic!

We were in Singleton overnight in a cousin's front yard a stones throw from the beach. It was so good to catch up. P and I enjoyed our morning walk. 

And what a week in Perth. 

Initially, when we were discussing the West Coast, we'd considered bypassing Perth though we had a few mates we wanted to catch up with. 

It was great to see our friends, have dinner with them and have the kids play together. Our friends also put us up in their place in Subiaco so we spread out for the week with a house to ourselves. Funnily enough, though, we all slept within 21 foot of each other!

If you've been reading the blog you'll know that Cyril, my great great uncle, was being recognised in a sunset ceremony on the eve of ANZAC Day. It's hard to put in to words exactly what this meant for me. As I delivered a wreath to the memorial, with my cousins, I thought of Cyril's father and mother (and so many more like them) who lost sons, of his sister, my grandmothers mum, who wouldn't have remembered her older brother. I thought of Cyril's brother, Norman, who was later exempt from the war due to the loss of his brother. And I thought of my grandmother. Cyril's family would have been proud of him but they were heartbroken. 

Before the service my cousin who is dedicated to our genealogy mentioned that there is one line of the family that she's not yet been able to track down. Well out from the crowd came a couple, the descendants of Cyril's sister, whom my cousin had spoken of. And what a wonderful surprise!

We were able to meet with them later in the week AND his aunt, who, at 90, spent time with and knew many relatives. This meeting only emphasised the far reaching impact of Cyril's life and death. 

Curtin University have enlarged and enhanced the photograph taken of the 11th Battalion (after they emerged from a church service) in Cheops, Egypt and it takes up a huge wall of the gallery. It's impossible restive and worth making a trip to. The exhibition is on until late 2015 and the soldiers are almost life sized. 

Our Cyril is #587. 

Many of my West Australian relatives are buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth so we took the time to pay our respects. 

This is the grave of Cyril's sister (my grandmothers mum) and their parents. 

Our time in Perth, being with family, was especially significant. It was important for me to touch base with them and listen to their stories. 

he's resting peacefully among many, many friends

I wonder what my great, great uncle would have done with his life had he not died after he volunteered to join the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) when World War I broken out. He never married or had children and I wonder what went through his mind (if he had time to think at all) as he lay dying on the sand of the shores of ANZAC Cove on 25th April, 1915 at the age of 22.

Cyril is the uncle of my dear maternal grandmother.

Alongside so many Australian, New Zealand, British and Turkish soldiers, Cyril Bolle's remains were never identified. All that signifies his sacrifice is his name in stone at Shrapnel Valley Cemetery and at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

My husband has been by Cyril's memorial in Turkey twice in the last few days. As a military doctor he is accompanying the Master of Ceremonies, cartoonist Graham Brown, Commissioner for Veterans Affairs, Major General Mark Kelly AO, and the two hundred Veterans Affairs delegates coordinating the services to be held on ANZAC Day at ANZAC Cove and Lone Pine.

Here is an excerpt from the email J wrote home:

"I visited Cyril today. He's resting peacefully among many, many friends in such a beautiful landscape. There are vari-coloured thick coastal heath valleys and right now the hills are full of bright blooms of colour, the Gallipoli desert rose and the vibrant pink flowers of the Judas tree that shades part of the Shrapnel Valley cemetery. The cemetery is only a stones throw away from the beach and the beach cemetery where Simpson also rests among Australian, British, NZ and Turkish friends. 

Lone Pine is high up on Second Ridge and the memorial site, which is located at the site of the battle and serves as a mass grave, is tragically and impossibly small.  In an area the size of a football field over 2000 Australians and 6000 Turks lost their lives in a four day battle.  It is here that Cyril Bolle's name is carved in stone amongst his friends of the 11th Battalion.  His name faces the west and, like the land within which he now lies, looks out over the beach and the sparkling turquoise shallows and waters of the Aegean Sea.
 
The site is so beautiful and the sounds of the ocean and birdsong so comforting (I'm sure I heard a whip bird today!), that it's difficult to imagine the horror that occurred there.
 
I said hello to Cyril from all the family and explained that I'd visit again tomorrow when I'll have some more time to sit and be with him.  To tell him what the family is up to.

I'll be sure to pass on all your love and will be thinking of you all as I sit with him.

Lots of love,
J."

We have a few photographs and snippets of information pertaining to Cyril's life and death. This is correspondence between the Major of the AIF and Cyril's father. In the letter, the Major requests for any information or letters that may contain clues to help locate Cyril's remains. 

His father's response:

"Dear Sir, 

Cannot get any definite news of where our son was killed. The only letter bearing on the matter was from a soldier in Hospital, in England, sending sympathy but he had no definite news only had been told Cyril was killed 25th April.

One returned soldier told me he saw Cyril well forward in the rush at 4(?)PM Sunday April 25th. He (the soldier) had just been wounded then was sent back.

Thanking you for what you have done to find where our son rests.

Yours Faithfully

M. M. Bolle"