The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the RightReverend WD Marshall, unveiled and dedicated the memorial window on Sunday 12 November 1950. The window included badges of the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces and the Royal Australian Air Force in the two lower panels, under the figure of the kneeling knight. It was installed in the war memorial chapel, erected on the north side of the church. Three windows by David Taylor Kellock (1913-1988) were dedicated in Melbourne churches on this same day, all of them in memory of those who served at war.
Two sons of Thomas and Margaret Newnham were among five sons of the church who were killed in action during the Second World War. Eric Ward Newnham, born 16 June 1924, enlisted at Bathurst, NSW and was a Private in 2/23 Battalion, fighting at Tarakan, Borneo when he was killed on 9 May 1945. His younger brother Harvey Arnold Newnham, a temporary corporal with 2/7 Battalion, was killed on 24 May 1941 during the German invasion of the island of Crete, aged 21 years.
Warrant Officer Stewart[?] Alfred Hamilton, 178 Squadron RAF, was killed in a flying battle over Italy on 10 October 1944, aged 20.
Keith Olney trained as a civil engineer and was Shire Secretary at Barrabool when he enlisted; he was killed in a flying accident of Goulburn Island, Northern Territory on 29 May 1943.
21-year-old LAC Harold Reginald Taylor was accidentally killed on 27 January 1944 while at RAAF 7 Elementary Training School Western Junction in Tasmania.
References & Acknowledgements
AWM Roll of Honour: NAA: B884,VX130975; NAA: B883, VX5474; Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Argus, 11 November 1950, p.6; Burwood Presbyterian Church pamphlet issued for the opening and dedication of the building on 15 February 1964; pamphlet prepared for opening of extensions Burwood Uniting Church. 31 July 1988.
