BERNIE Dingle is a master of many trades, but his real passion is preserving history, writes JOHANNA LEGGATT.
It may come as a surprise to Bernie Dingle's erstwhile school teachers that the coach builder, wheelwright, blacksmith and museum curator has developed an impressive command of modern history.
Bernie was bored witless at school - teachers would frequently implore him to stop preventing others from learning - and he couldn't wait to leave so he could get his trade.
So there is some irony to his current incarnation as tour guide and teacher at the custom-built Light Horse and Field Artillery Museum, in Nar Nar Goon, Gippsland.
When Bernie isn't working on coaches - he trades under the name of Dingle Coach Builders - he is in his old king's uniform from World War I, guiding school groups and tourists through his museum displays, and educating them about modern war history.
Bernie runs the museum with his wife, Francis, a breeder of Stoneycroft Arabian horses, specialising in the Nantouka bloodline of Crabbet Arabians.
The pair shares their property with Arty the duck and three horses, Crystal, Drifter and Darky.
Bernie's museum is both an educational resource and a tribute.
"Some things are precious, and we are trying to educate the young ones about our history and hoping to create some connection with our past," he says.
"I am concerned we have lost a lot of our heritage and we have become a pretty selfish society, and a lot of people are unaware of our past and the sacrifices others have made for us."
The museum consists of war-time relics Bernie has collected and his purpose-built dioramas.
"Although we officially opened in 1998 I have been collecting since I was young - I just didn't call it a museum then," Bernie says.
Among the wartime relics are Crusades-era swords and a gun from the Boer war.
Most of the displays and exhibits are drawn from the World War I, including three captured German guns.
Naval, medical, catering and dental displays help complete the picture of life in the trenches.
A restaurant houses a World War I red rattler train carriage that has been converted into a kitchen. Naturally, Bernie restored all of the museum's vehicles.
Bernie also uses the museum to highlight the role animals have played in wars, referring to the many sacrificed horses, donkeys, camels and mules as the "unsung heroes of service".
"Pack animals suffered horrifically in World War I; they had terrible odds against them," he says.
He has also developed a strong partnership with the Victorian state headquarters of the RSL. Many of his restored vehicles and horse-drawn wagons are used in local parades.
But Bernie is keen to emphasise that his museum is a "commemoration rather than a celebration" of war.
"It's remembrance and respect for the fallen," he says.
"It's not glorifying war at all. There will always be wars, I can't see that changing any time soon. But at least we can honour the fallen."
Bernie has not shied away from depicting some of the less palatable aspects of war, although as he puts it "no one has ever gone crook at me".
"I have never had any complaints and I read people's body language to ascertain how they are taking what I am saying," he says.
"All of the displays are set up quite sympathetically, as well."
One of his more moving dioramas depicts a re-imagining of the visitation of the Angels of Mons - whereby a group of angels allegedly paid members of the British army a visit at the beginning of World War I.
One bunker shows a human skeleton, with a dead horse across it.
"Some people say it's a hobby, what I do, but it's more than that, it's a dedication," he says. The museum is not Bernie's only labour of love, however.
He has pursued his love of coach building with the same passion he has applied to the museum.
The trade may not be booming, but he has persisted with coach building in the face of others' disbelief.
"When I told people I was going to be a coach builder they laughed at me," he says.
"It was very much a trade in its dying days, even back then.
"I've never gotten my driver's licence, I used to drive my horses around.
"It's all just part of the travelling show, I say.
"Take it or leave it."
- The Light Horse and Field Artillery Museum is at 200 Bessie Creek Road, Nar Nar Goon. Phone (03) 5942 5512
