Assisted Immigration In the 1800's governments in both Britain and Australia wanted to increase the number of free migrants to Australia.The British government stepped in to help with the cost of emigration by forming the Land and Emigration Commission. By 1869 the Commission had carried 339,000 British emigrants in 1,088 shiploads at a cost of almost 5 million pounds.My great-great grandfathers John Herd, John Rock, William Wallis and David Brownlee, with their wives and young families travelled under this program. The Herds and Rocks left Ireland, the Brownlees Scotland and the Wallis' England.They all settled in Port Phillip/Victoria.

Our Anzacs: John Alexander (Alec) Wallace At the age of 22, Alec Wallace enlisted as a gunner, to fight in WW1. About a year later, during fighting near Marrett Wood (Somme) Alec and a fellow soldier put their lives on the line - an act of bravery recognised with the Military Medal. On discharge, Alec built a rewarding life of family, friends, work and community service. His eulogy read: 'As a soldier in the First World War he experienced both the inhumanity of man and the comradeship of men. He knew the loneliness of bereavement and the happiness of family and friends... We remember (him) with warm regard and real affection – father, friend, comrade, office-bearer, elder'.

Our Anzacs: Frederick (Fred) Joseph Wallace Tragically, a few months after Alec Wallace joined the Australian Imperial Force, his older brother Fred died in the German offensive near Lagnicourt, a small village close to the Hindenburg Line on the Western Front. He was killed on April 15, 1917, four days after the first Battle of Bullecourt. Along with 11 other Australian gunners killed that day, Fred is buried at Ecoust St Mein HAC Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. In all, over 1,000 Australians died in the Lagnicourt offensive.

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