Mark Butz ‘The best system of trenches in Australia: World War I training trenches at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands’

Mark is a science graduate and cultural historian. He has lived in Canberra since 1980, and maintains a strong interest in biodiversity and cultural heritage of the Canberra region.  His occasional work with the Jerrabomberra Wetlands Board of Management began in 2012 and sparked his interest in the poorly understood cultural heritage of the Reserve and its environs.  Mark has previously documented little-known stories about the ‘lost’ limestone of the Limestone Plains, and about the Blundells Flat area.

This year marks the centenary of the Duntroon instructional trench system, used to train officers and senior NCOs in trench warfare and bombing.  What was once a ‘bombing paddock’ is now in a nature reserve for wetlands and water birds.  This presentation will tell the continuing story of finding, revealing, and presenting the remains of a long-forgotten part of Canberra’s history.