Their bodies are buried in peace; but their names liveth for evermore.

Their Duty Done

A tribute to the men and women of the East Gippsland Region who Died as a result of their participation in World War One : 1914 -1919

In 1888 James and Jessie Rowe married and the following year, Mary Ann their first daughter was born at Swan Reach. Two years later James Henry arrived, followed by Annie Pearl in 1893 and finally John Alexander in 1895. The family had settled at Swan Reach when just two years later in 1897 John’s mother, when 30 years old, Jessie died unexpectedly. With family connections in the western district James sought support from the family to raise his young family. A staunch member of the Colac Church, young John was a choir boy there before being apprenticed to Foley Bros., bakers at Colac for two years. John then returned to Lakes Entrance where his older sister Mary Ann was living having married Ernest Lindemann, the Chief Officer of the S.S. Gippsland. John was farming at Kalimna when he enlisted in February 1916. At the end of April, when home at Kalimna on his final leave, he was honoured with a send-off with over one hundred people in attendance and presented with a wristlet watch by those gathered. John was deployed to England for training before proceeding with the 46 th  Battalion to Etaples in France in September 1916. Just seven months later he was killed in action on 11 April 1917 at the battle of Arras, Bullecourt where thousands died. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated at Villers-Bretonneux and on several honour rolls at Lakes Entrance. John Rowe was 21 years old.