City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2to the Darebin and Merri Creeks to study water quality and habitat management. Theseprograms are run by the Merri Creek Management Committee and Darebin CreekManagement Committees.Figure 89Gresswell Habitat link[City of Darebin, 2007]7.7 CommemoratingMemorialsMemorials and monuments are a way in which communities remember past events and honourpeople and their contributions to the community. In Darebin many councillors and prominentcitizens have been commemorated in the naming of parks and gardens. For example C.T.Crispe, a Preston Councillor for the first two decades of the twentieth century and Preston’sfirst representative on the MMBW, Northcote’s Cr Albert Oldis, Northcote Councillor andState Premier John Cain (Snr) and Aboriginal activist Sir Doug Nicholls, all have parks namedin their honour and represent several themes in Darebin’s story.In all communities war memorials are a poignant reminder of the sacrifice of local people whoserved in war and express local the pride and grief, particularly after the devastating losses ofthe First World War.A Memorial Hall was built next to the Preston Town Hall in 1921, but it has since beendemolished to make way for extensions to the Town Hall. Darebin’s most elaborate warmemorial is probably the Memorial Entrance to the Municipal Offices at Preston built tocommemorate the First World War. The names of the dead from the Second World War andsubsequent wars in which Australia has been involved have been added.In Northcote the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, designed by Harry A. Norris, was builtin High Street in 1922, with funds supplied by Council and public donations. It is now knownas the RSL Hall, and has a cenotaph outside commemorating those who died in later wars aswell.128