VICTORIAN Government records on the state’s soldier settlers have been made public through a new historical and family research website, Battle to Farm.
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The site allows public access to 10,000 government records on the Victorian Soldier Settlement Scheme, which helped thousands of returned World War I soldiers take up farming land across the state through government leases.
While some prospered, more than half those allocated blocks left the scheme.
Many were unable to cover their debts when food prices plummeted, while others accused the government of leasing blocks that were simply too small to be viable.
The resources allow researchers to access information on the land allocated to each settler and the hardships they faced. The website is searchable by name and geographic location and features digitised soldier settlement records, letters from the soldiers about their farming life, video interviews of people who grew up on settlement blocks, photographs and a guide to understanding the records.
Soldier-settlers whose lives are described on the website include James Bell, whose son David lives on the original block to this day; Percy Pepper, one of the very few Aboriginal servicemen known to have successfully applied for a block; John McEwen, who became a Country Party politician and, briefly, Australia’s 18th prime minister; and William Bradshaw, who gave farming his best but had to abandon the land due to ill health.
“We’re thrilled to launch this great resource so the public can access their ancestors’ records easily and have an insight into the challenges soldiers faced on their return to Australia,” Public Record Office director Justin Heazlewood said.
