Tales from Rat City

This tour was originally released in 2021, as a series of episodes to be listened to while walking the Ballarat Avenue of Honour. The episodes can be found individually at https://honouringouranzacs.com.au/page/lucas_girls#AudioTour

This audio podcast series tells the stories of the men and women who served in ‘the war to end all wars’ and the lives of those on the home front who commemorated them with the planting of Ballarat’s unique Avenue of Honour and Arch of Victory.  A stretch of nearly 4000 trees with each representing a man or woman who served their country in the first world war; a powerful symbol for the people who planted them and remained back home.   

Each Audio tour focuses on an aspect of the lives of the men and women from Ballarat who served in the First World War, following the stories of individuals who are commemorated by trees in the Ballarat Avenue.  They also tell the story of the building of the imposing Ballarat Arch of Victory and the committed efforts by the employees of E. Lucas and Co, and others, who worked tirelessly to raise funds and plant this remarkable Avenue of Honour.

This podcast was created for the Ballarat Avenue of Honour. Funding for this project was received from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Veterans Branch) through the Victoria Remembers Minor Grant Program.  Generous support was also received from Federation University and the Ballarat Mechanics Institute. 
Thanks to Garry Snowden for his meticulous reviewing and fact checking of scripts and production.
Thanks especially to the Ballarat Arch of Victory/Avenue of Honour Committee and the Lucas Past Employees Association for their support.
Thanks also to the Lepp and Tongway families for access to family records, images and recordings pertaining to Ballarat’s Chinese ANZACs

Credits

Lead researcher and writer- David Waldron
Co-Investigator-s CeRDI and Dr Fred Cahir
Casting and Production Manager- Katrina Hill
Sound design- Shannon Nicholls
Intro music- Maggie Littlejohn

Cast

-Shannon John Nicholls
-David Waldron
-Katrina Hill
-Timothy Corrigan
-Rebecca O’Callaghan
-Benjamin Marshall
-Zerene Jaadwa
-Kaine Hanson
-Collin Van Uden
-Michael Taffe
-Garry Snowden

Last Post sound file sourced from; FREESOUND.ORG USER BENBONCAN https://freesound.org/people/Benboncan/sounds/62050/
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Image file sourced via honouringouranzacs.com.au, at; https://res.cloudinary.com/dxsrldfkg/image/upload/v1527478129/HOA/static/1a.jpg