By Kyra Gillespie
Two brothers lost in war have been painted back into the memories of their loved ones.Ballarat-born brothers, Private James George Hannah and Lance Corporal Samuel Robert Hannah, fought and died together in the First World War.
They were two of 11 children, nine of whom were girls.
Their great niece, a nurse at St John of God Berwick Hospital, has carried on their story by asking a colleague to paint a portrait of the brave duo.
Nerinda Mazzarella said she wanted to honour the memory of her great uncles.
“I became interested in these two great uncles of mine when my own son Bryce joined a WWI re-enactment group, and he and I looked into their service records,” St John of God nurse Nerinda Mazzarella said.
“I found out that the two brothers were both in the 46th Battalion. The story had been told through my aunties that both brothers were stationed together in Belgium.
“Young Samuel was shot and wounded, and his older brother James ran out to help him. James unfortunately was killed in action and somehow Samuel was retrieved and sent to the dressing station, where he died from his wounds the next day.
“The dressing station was across the border in France. This meant that although they both were essentially shot next to one another, they died on separate days in different countries.”
The brothers were both in the Battle of Messines on June 7 1917, from which the movie Beneath Hill 60 was based.
James’s body was never recovered, and has his name on the Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium. Samuel has a war grave in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery in France.
James was 25, Samuel only 20.
“What a shock for my great grandmother to receive not only one bad telegram, but both together,” Ms Mazzarella said.
“The Australian War Memorial has them both listed on the Roll of Honour. Upon looking up their records, there is only a silhouette where their faces should be as there are no known photos of them.
“I didn’t want them to be ‘just a silhouette’ but the only photo I have of them is a large family photo of all 11 children and parents taken around 1910. That is when I asked Lisa if she would like to paint a portrait of them.”
The large portrait is a stunning tribute to the two young lives lost.
“Not only is there now a recollection of how these two proud young men would have looked in their uniforms, off to fight for their country, but they are now together, side by side, as they were till the end.”
Artist and colleague Lisa Carman said she was touched that Ms Mazzarella asked her to take on the project.“My job was to paint a portrait of them, aiming to age them by around 10 years, to how they may have looked as they went off to war.
“It was very touching when Nerinda began to cry when I presented the finished painting to her.
“These two young men were real Aussie heroes.”
