By ALESHA CAPONE
THE doors of a historic cottage in Keilor Park will be thrown open to the public on 22 March.
The 2014 Harrick’s Cottage Open Day will allow visitors to see an Irish immigrant settler’s hut, which was built in Keilor.
The cottage was first home to James and Bridget Harrick who settled as Keilor tenant farmers in 1861 and went on to have 10 children.
The open day will continue the Keilor Historical Society’s work of 2011 when the Keilor cenotaph was refurbished and four plaques added.
The plaques commemorate those who served in World War I and II — two nurses and two army units located on the site of the Keilor Municipal Offices between 1942 and 1945.
The historical society’s president Susan Jennison and vice-president Dorothy Minkoff said they had researched service records, to draw a picture of the men and two women listed as serving Keilor during war.
Their investigations have focused on those mentioned on the Keilor honour-roll.
“I think one was mentioned in dispatches and another one received a military medal for bravery,” Ms Minkoff said.
“Keilor would have been a microcosm of other areas at the time.”
Ms Jennison said the society had tried to portray “the enormous challenges and adventures these people had” from a regional perspective.
“We’ve been able to see a copy of the letter one of the men sent back,” she said.
“He described being in the trenches and then went back to England, which is how I think he got mail out. Usually, it was heavily censored it did not get through.”
Ferguson Plarre bakehouses will even provide some delicious eclairs free for the event.
The cottage open day will be on 22 March midday to 4pm, Harrick’s Cottage, Harrick Rd, Keilor Park. Entry: gold coin donation.
