A new book about war memorials across Hume has been released by a committee dedicated to validating and recording the municipality’s history.
The Craigieburn War Memorial and Remembrance Committee (CWMRC) president Kevin O’Callaghan said of the 370 printed books, 200 were given away.
“We’ve given each [Hume] councillor 15 books, they’re going to give them to schools within their ward. and we’ve given copies to the various RSLs,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
War memorials within the city of Hume, which was released on Remembrance Day 2025, includes photos of every war memorial across areas like Broadmeadows. Campbellfield, Craigieburn, Mickleham, Sunbury and Tullamarine.
“When we started looking at some of the memorials, we were talking to council, and there was only one councillor that really knew much about them… so we decided to make a catalogue,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
Mr O’Callaghan said the project to publish the book started in 2020, but road upgrades and lockdowns delayed the committee’s research and photography.
“It’s very much a group effort… it was funded by the council which gave us 80 per cent of the money, he said.
Mr O’Callaghan said many of the photos were taken professionally by CWMRC member Philip Whitehead while Alec Mead individually verified each veteran listed.
“He researched every person on there.. if they’re in red, that is ‘killed in action’,” he said.
“There were a couple of them that were misspelled, but there were about four or five that there was no record of.”
Mr O’Callaghan said one serviceman was listed as a Craigieburn resident, but was not found until the team followed a rumour about his family history, and verified him through New Zealand records.
Mr O’Callaghan said the committee will sell about 170 books with all the profit being directed towards covering the costs of remembrance services and veteran related projects.
“Our project for Remembrance Day this year is to put another five columns around the memorial,” he said.
“There are four columns for the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine … but we want it to be for anyone who served.”
You can order a copy of the book for $30 plus postage, by contacting contact@craigieburnwarmemorial.com
