John Kavanagh, former Mayor of Moreland, will talk about his family history in Brunswick. His grandparents Bill and Mary Barry were active in the ALP and later DLP and the union movement over many years.

An Italian Family in Brunswick
Local solicitor Peter Russo will talk about his family's long connection to Brunswick at the next meeting of Brunswick Community History Group on Saturday 1 August at 1.30pm at Balam Balam Place.

Peter's great grandfather migrated from the Aeolian Islands in 1895. In the 1920s his grandfather established a fruit shop in Sydney Road. Peter's father became a successful real estate agent in Brunswick and encouraged his lawyer son to set up a practice in Sydney Road where he has been ever since.
This is a story of migration, local history and social mobility.

Photo from State Library of Victoria shows an Italian family in Melbourne in 1928. Photograph by Mendelssohn Studios.

You see here an image of 300 newly enlisted World War 1 soldiers and family members being farewelled at Brunswick Town Hall prior to going into camp at Broadmeadows. Within a month they were on their way to Egypt as part of the first convoy of Australian and New Zealand servicemen. They left Melbourne on 19 October 1914, arrived in Egypt in early December and on 25 April 1915 were part of the Anzac Landing.
At our meeting of 4 July, BCHG members John Fletcher and Cheryl Griffin will share some of the stories they have discovered as they research the life stories of the Brunswick men of the 7th Battalion who left with that first convoy.
Photo from Merri-bek Libraries