by Yvette Brand
The story of George Eyre's bugle is shared every year at Warragul Anzac and Remembrance services before the sounds of the bugle echo across the cenotaph playing the Last Post. But the mystery behind the bugle now continues, with another chapter surfacing in its remarkable story.
For 42 years, since being gifted to the Warragul RSL, the bugle has been commemorated for belonging to George Eyre of Buln Buln - a Private in the 10th Australian Infantry Battalion.
He was killed in action on the Western Front in France in 1917.

Sixty-six years later a bugle was found in an antique shop in Norfolk, England by a Cairns man. Engravings on the bugle included a rising sun, Australia and the Crown - and the name G. Eyre.
Through military records, the bugle was traced to George Eyre and gifted to Warragul RSL. The story until now has assumed this was correct and George's bugle became lost when he was killed in action.
But the mystery continues to unfold...
In June, the City of Traralgon Band invited Warragul Municipal Band members Sarah and Anthony Lucas to join them on their Tour of Remembrance.
The City of Traralgon Band tour committee allowed Sarah and Anthony an opportunity to honour a fallen soldier from the Baw Baw Shire during the tour, and to hold a short gravesite service.
They decided to reunite George Eyre with his bugle and took the bugle to be played at George's grave in Moeuvers Cemetery.
Warragul RSL president Lynn Mizen said it was a unique commemoration to honour and remember George Eyre, with a service at his grave, and for the Last Post to be played on his own bugle, 108 years after his death.
The story of the bugle and its tour to France attracted the attention of RSL Victoria and spread nationally.
And then it took a turn...or two.
Ms Mizen said an historian based in Queensland claimed the bugle was a commemorative bugle and could not have belonged to a serviceman.
Added to the mystery was the discovery a second George Eyre served on the Western Front.
Family history shows George was the youngest son of seven children to James and Sarah Eyre.
James was one of the first settlers of Warragul. He was a founding member of the Warragul Progress Association and owned three shops in Victoria St. A farmer at Buln Buln, he became an influential member of the Warragul community in the early 1900s.
The eldest Eyre son - James - had a son George Herbert, who was only 12 years younger than his father's brother George.
Ms Mizen said service records showed James Eyre had a son and grandson, both named George, who both served on the Western Front in France.
While the older George was killed in action, his nephew George - a machine gunner - was wounded in 1918 and returned to Australia in 1919. His son Peter Eyre lives in Drouin.
Ms Mizen said Peter was confident his father never had a bugle and they knew neither of the two George Eyres were issued a bugle on his enlistment.
So did the bugle belong to George Eyre of Buln Buln? Or is the Queensland historian correct and it was a commemorative bugle?
"There are a lot of unanswered questions," Ms Mizen said. "Was George issued a bugle in France? How did the bugle get from France to Norfolk?"
"We can't prove it but we can't disprove it. If nothing else, we will always remember George and his service."
Ms Mizen said an RSL state executive member once said "behind every death there is a family and a community."
"This story epitomises that. It will always be the George Eyre commemorative bugle and signify George's commitment to the Warragul community and what he sacrificed in his service," she said.
Eyre legacy continues
With an Eyre descendant living locally and becoming involved in the bugle mystery, Peter Eyre contacted the Warragul RSL with the information he had acquired in tracing his family's war service.
Peter also has the medals of his great-uncle George, believed to have been buried by his father George when he was living at Caulfield.
The medal - inscribed with 5093 Pte G Eyre 10th Bn AIF - was found by occupants of the house and returned to Peter. His father's medals were not found.
Peter will present his uncle's medal, which is a WWI British Victory medal, to the Warragul RSL at a special ceremony on August 9.