In those four years - the only editions of The Standard that have so far been digitally scanned and made available via the national archives - 646 Death and In Memoriam notices appeared in its pages, almost always page 2.

Some were brief and to the point, giving only the barest details of those who died "on active service" and when. Others were far more detailed as to circumstances, ages, places and loved ones, and included long poetic epitaphs or tributes.

But long or short, eloquent or cursory, combined they record four agonizing years of unrelenting grief and mourning on the homefront.

Deakin University academics have spent the past 12 months researching the history and relevance of newspaper death notices to highlight the impact on those left behind in communities like Warrnambool. Communications researcher Kristy Hess has teamed up with historian Dr Sarah Pinto to document the history of how people mourn via media and the importance of the newspaper death notices column to regional audiences.

A display highlighting a selection of notices in The Standard between 1914-1918 will be available for public viewing at the Warrnambool RSL from ANZCAC Day after their work received funding from the Federal Department of Veteran Affairs' Saluting their Service program. They hope this will be a pilot project adopted by other RSLs across the nation.

"We have been captivated by so many of these notices. Tiny babies who never knew their fathers, grieving parents, siblings and friends," Associate Professor Hess said.

"Death notices during the War really became the beating heart of the community and the central platform in which people shared their grief."

MORE READS:

Even today, more than a century later, notices from the Great War have the power to make the reader weep.

At a time when Australians were mourning their lost loved ones from the other side of the world, the almost daily notices in The Standard were one way the bereaved at home could publicly and collectively express and record their anguish, love, pride and regret.

Along the dusty, gas-lit streets off Warrnambool (which would not be declared a city until 1918), where so many of the houses had names, not numbers - and all through the surrounding districts and townships - barely a home was left untouched by the sorrow inflicted by the Great War.

Mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, friends, workmates, cousins and comrades-in-arms (some of whom would themselves become casualties): They all attempted to put into words their heartache and sense of loss for those they would never see again, and whose graves some could never hope to visit.

As the bereaved filed into the Koroit Street office of the Standard (or perhaps their local post office) to submit their notices, most chose common tributes from the compendium provided for such occasion: "For King and Country", or "Greater love hath no man ..." etc.

Some composed their own verse, others favoured flag-waving patriotism and loyalty to the British Empire, while some made direct references to Gallipoli, Lone Pine, the Dardanelles or the ubiquitous "Somewhere In France".

Few were overtly religious, while some quoted lines from famous poets or writers - such as Rudyard Kipling - which again reflected the average Australian's close bonds with Empire and "the Old Country".

One such was the tribute paid in early 1918 by members of the Warrnambool Waterside Workers' Union, in honour of their former colleague, 19-year-old Carl Fisher. They quoted Kipling's The English Flag: "Never the Lotus closes, never the wild fowl wake, But a soul goes out on the east wind, That died for England's sake."

But what makes those little black and white notices particularly poignant, however, are the references to their previous civilian occupations and lives.

So many of their surnames are familiar, as are their workplaces and the street names where they lived, that the pain and sorrow expressed in the death notices transcends the century that has passed since.

Private James Joseph Walters, who died of wounds in France in June, 1917, was honoured by his workmates at the Nestles Condensery in Dennnington; Fred "Bill" Wilson, who died on the same day, was remembered by members of the Warrnambool Wharf Labourers' Union; the Warrnambool Furnishing Company paid tribute to Gunner Arty Bensley; while the Warrnambool Woollen Mill and fellow members of the Warrnambool Textile Workers' Union mourned the death of Corporal John Connolly.

The death of Sergeant George Dunner, 23, in January, 1917, broke the heart of Muriel McLaren, who wrote that she would remember his smiling face "until the last ... in loving remembrance of my boy friend".

Likewise, Beeac-born Cyril White - who died of illness in October 1915, aged 21, in a military base hospital in Melbourne, but whose brother lived in the Terang district - was mourned by his "loving friend" Elsie Cussens of Melbourne, who wrote: "I never knew the pain you bore. I never saw you die: I only know you passed away, And never said good-bye. However long my life may last, Whatever land I view. Whatever joy or grief be mine, I will always think of you."

Notices inserted by parents, siblings and cousins are universal in their grief.

Some are determinedly stoic, with references to duty nobly done, proud Anzacs and sacrifice for the Empire. But in others the empty despair caused by of the loss of a beloved child or husband so far away - often in circumstances and locations that would forever remain unclear - is overwhelming, and they often make a point of using their loved one's name.

The parents of Woollen Mill worker Corporal John Connolly, who was 22 when he was killed, were bereft: "Son of our heart we are lonely without you, Long seems the time since you went from our side; How young you were John, when the war trumpet sounded, But bravely you answered its call. You laid down your boyhood and took a man's burden, To fight for your God, your country and KingRest in Peace".

Inserted by his brother and sister-in-law, Willie and Mary Tinker, and Alma, the notice for Gunner James Tinker, 31, who died in September 1917, is one of many that makes clear the torment of losing someone so far away in a foreign land and the end of all hope of a happy reunion: "We pictured your safe returning, Jim, We longed to clasp your hand; But God alas postponed our meeting here, We will meet in a better land. All we have left of our hero brave, Is a beautiful picture and a far away grave."

Others did not hold back their anger that their son was now among the "glorious dead" while other young men eligible for enlistment remained at home

The parents and sisters of Private Roy Plouright of Warrnambool, who died of wounds in October 1917, did not hold back: "He died that shirkers may live."

Likewise, when Inez Allwood lost her husband Private William Allwood, father of their little daughter Annie, in late 1917, she was equally blunt: "Better to die a hero's death than die at home a shirker."

It is not difficult to imagine the bitterness and deep divisions created among the wider community and even family and friends as the death toll grew throughout four long, bloody years.

The first death notice for a serviceman in The Standard was published on January 19, 1915, for Alfred McDowell, 28, of Keilambete East (formerly Mepunga) who had been accidentally killed a week earlier - run over by a train at Maardi railway station in Egypt.

The last for a soldier killed on service was published on December 17, 1918, for Private Thomas Cocking - a victim of the raging influenza pandemic. His wife Barbara lived on Raglan Parade.

Between the two there were more than 640 others, every one mourned by someone, somewhere, and their sorrow echoes down the decades.

Pat Maher was 22 when he was killed in March 1917. His heartbroken mother's questioning tribute is eternal in its grief: "May his soul rest in peace. Did he whisper my name when parting, Or whisper a parting prayer? O! Where did they bury my darling boy, Does anyone know or care? My boy. - Mother"

The display will be available for viewing in the foyer of the Warrnambool RSL after ANZAC Day.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Subscribe.