Robinvale Memorial Gateway

Caix Square, Villers Bretanneaux Walk ROBINVALE, SWAN HILL RURAL CITY

All information on this page is maintained by Vic. War Heritage Inventory. Click below for their website and contact details.

Vic. War Heritage Inventory

Robin 3.jpg

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • Veterans Description for Public

    Robinvale Memorial Gateway - Veterans Description for Public

    The Robinvale Memorial Gateway, in Caix Square on the Villers Bretanneaux Walk, was opened by Madame Huguette Pillon on 5th May 1984. The gateway marks not only the First World War theatre of war but a friendship between Villers - Bretanneaux and Robinvale as sister towns, who were 'twinned' in 1984.

    Robinvale is named in memory of Lieutenant George Robin Cuttle, who was killed in action dring air combat over France in 1918. Cuttle was born in 1896, the second son of Hubert and Margaret Cuttle who had a general store (Cuttles Malle Stores) at Ultima near Swan Hill. His father made him manager of a large property at Euston across the Murray River from what is now Robinvale in 1914 when he was just 18.

    On the outbreak of the First World War, Cuttle, who was 203 centimetres and over 100 kilos, tried to enlist in the AIF but was rejected. Perhaps he was too big. But he was also very determined. He travelled to England and tried to enlist in the Royal flying Corps, but was again rejected as too heavy and tall for the flying machines. Instead he joined the Royal Field Artillery in July 1916 and served on the Somme, where he was awarded the Military Cross.

    In late 1917, conditions for entry to the RFC had changed, and Rbin joined as an observer. He was flying with 49 Squadron, flying DH9 bombers. Returning from a mission on 9 May 1918, the aircraft was shot down. The bodies were never found and Cuttle is remembered on the Arras Flying Memorial and the Ultima War Memorial.

    After the war, in 1923, Robin's parents and brother Robert went to France to search for him. At Caix, 10 kilometres from Villers-Bretonneux, they found evidence of the wreck.

    In 1924, the Cuttles were planning to develop the land they had acquired on the bend in the Murray once the railway reached there. The story goes that at the opening of the land sale at the new station, Robin's mother embroidered a piece of hessian with flowers and the words Robin Vale - (Farewell Robin) and so it came about. Another story is that the post office originally known as Bumbang was renamed Robinvale for the same reason. The Cuttles built a new home named Robinswood there.

• Location map
• Explore related places
  • Show:
    -- select -- Nearby Places

  • 
    Robinvale War Memorial

    

    Vic. War Heritage Inventory
  • Euston Bridge over Murray River

    

    National Trust
  • Robinvale Honour Roll

    

    Vic. War Heritage Inventory
• Public contributions