By CASEY NEILL
INTERACTIVE boards are now highlighting three of Greater Dandenong’s many World War I connections.
City of Greater Dandenong officially opened the Anzac Trail signs at Dandenong Primary School last Thursday, 11 June, as part of celebrations to mark 100 years since Australian troops landed at Gallipoli.
Visitors will be able to link their mobile phones to the boards to access information.
Students at the school rose to the challenge of supporting the war effort.
The other two signs are at the Drum Theatre, which was the old town hall where recruits signed up, and Dandenong High School, which was built after the war in 1921 thanks to inaugural principal Percy Langford who served in Gallipoli with the 4th Light Horse Infantry.
Six other markers will be installed at different locations across the municipality by Remembrance Day on 11 November.
Locations will include the Dandenong Drill Hall, which was built in 1916 and used to drill citizen soldiers in compulsory military training.
The Noble Park settlement was purchased to house returning soldiers and the Mechanics Institute Springvale opened in 1915 and hosted WWI fund-raisers.
Dandenong Market will be used to commemorate the 8th and 58th battalions which eight Dandenong men served in.
Lastly, there’ll be signs at the Red Cross Dandenong Branch, which was formed in 1914, and Peace Memorial Bridge, Dandenong, which is one of the few surviving engineering works constructed during WWI.
