Craven First and Second World War Roll of Honor

About

The Craven Roll of Honor is dedicated to the men and women from the Craven area (a rural community located near Gloucester in the Hunter Valley region of NSW) who served in the First and Second World Wars. This is a wooden Roll of Honor with a black painted wooden banner at the top with “ROLL OF HONOR” impressed in it. At the bottom of the board are two pairs of carved crossed rifles situated above military emblems with “FOR KING” and “AND COUNTRY” engraved on them. On either side of the board are carved wooden supporting frames. The names are listed in two vertical columns, the collum on the left is for the names of the 14 First World War veterans and are comprised of black painted metal letters inside metal frames. The collum on the right is for the names of the eight Second World War veterans. These names are painted directly onto the wood in black paint. It is currently unknown when or where the Craven Roll of Honor was first unveiled. However, it is believed that the Roll of Honor was originally unveiled in the Craven Hall. It is now located in the Gloucester District Historical Society Museum.   As the names are not in listed in alphabetical order this suggests that the names were added whilst the war was still ongoing. In addition, the Roll of Honor has clearly been constructed in two distinct styles across two different periods (metal letters for the First World War content and black paint for the Second World War content). Together this evidence suggests that the board was first constructed during 1914-1918 and later added to during 1939-1945.