General News
23 November, 2022
Descendants gather at tree
XAVIER Tweed and Olivia Twigg on Friday unveiled a plaque at the base of a sugar gum planted a century ago at Bears Lagoon. The tree was planted by George Mossop when he enlisted in 1916. He was killed 10 months later in Belgium. The plaque honours...
XAVIER Tweed and Olivia Twigg on Friday unveiled a plaque at the base of a sugar gum planted a century ago at Bears Lagoon.
The tree was planted by George Mossop when he enlisted in 1916. He was killed 10 months later in Belgium.
The plaque honours the service of George Mossop and five other locals who served in World War One - Chap Adam, Alex Dalziel, Edward (Spud) Kerr, Fred Perry and Ted Tracey.
More than 80 descendants and local residents attended the commemoration.
Eric Bogle’s The Diggers Legacy was read by Debra Carrigy, Eddie Kerr’s granddaughter, who travelled from Frankston with brothers Brett and Shane from Nyora.
“After decades of talking about erecting a plaque on the century-old sugar gum, descendants were pleased to finally install a granite rock and plaque with the story on it,” said East Loddon Historical Society secretary Robyn Brown.
“Organisers, Colin Twigg and John Dalziel invited young descendants Xavier Tweed and Olivia Twigg to unveil the plaque and they have been charged with carrying on caring for the tree and replacing it if it ever died.”
Eddie Kerr’s remarkable story of surival was also recalled last Friday. As a Lewis gun operator, Eddie had been issued with a pistol for protection. During the third battle of Ypres in October 1917,
Eddie’s leg was shot off and he lay seriously injured in a bomb crater for three long days surrounded by death and destruction.
Nearby Allies had captured two German soldiers. They disarmed them and sent them to report to the Allies’ camp. Two German soldiers stumbled across Eddie in the trench and Eddie said he could only convince one of them to carry him back to safety.
On his return, Eddie was fitted with a prosthetic leg and worked as a rate collector for East Loddon Shire. He then moved to Frankston where he became a valuer with Frankston council for 30 years. Eddie died in 1970, aged 74
His prosthetic leg was donated to the historical society and displayed in its Mitiamo museum where Robyn says it is “a serious, tangible reminder of the horrors of war for those that returned of both the physical and emotional post traumatic struggles suffered by men and women”.