Mudgee Guardian Article by Colleen O’Sullivan 5 May 2014
Featured image: Dead Man’s Penny. This memorial plaque was sent to Eddie Batten’s parents after he died. The family attached it to his gravestone. Some years ago a council employee found it lying nearby. 1.355 million plaques were issued to British subjects who died due to World War 1. It was known as a “dead man’s penny” because it was similarly made of bronze, though five inches in diameter.
I have long wanted to discover my great-uncle Private Edward Michael Batten, ‘Uncle Eddie’. Because, though he died so long ago, I was aware that his death caused great sadness for my grandmother, his sister. Even my aunt Meg Hughes who was only a toddler when he died was affected. No doubt my interest was captured too, in history lessons on the war and by such books as Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. It isn’t just Eddie I seem to be searching for, but all those young men who enlisted, yearning for heroism, and died in a futile field of mud.
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Into the Battle
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Four things about me. I like reading, writing, researching and living in the country. In particular I like living at Kandos, where we have been for more than a decade. I have deep roots in this part of the country. My mother spent her early life in Kandos. My father was born at Rylstone. My grandparents were pioneers of Kandos and Rylstone. And I was born at Lue - and went to school in Mudgee. The history of this area excites me and I would like to share it with you.
My monthly blogs are posted on the 1st of each month. However I intend taking a six-month furlough from blogging to continue a project that has been sitting on the shelves for too long. Also, after 71 posts and 59 articles I feel a bit stale. I post my first blog in May 2017.
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Colleen
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