One significant piece of Inverell history happened in 1916 when a group of town and district men who called themselves the Kurrajongs set off for the war front.
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With its 100-year anniversary not far away, a group of local individuals are hoping to form a committee to recreate and commemorate the Kurrajongs’ departure and all men who made the sacrifice for World War I.
On Monday, December 9 at 7pm, there will be a public meeting at Flanders House for anybody who would like to be part of the planning to mark this memorable event.
Although about 600 men had already enlisted for World War I, in late 1915 more were needed. Inverell flouted the government’s doubts about country recruitment efforts by following Gilgandra’s example and staged a ‘coo-ee march’.
The initial results were 114 ‘Kurrajongs’ who signed up to take the long journey to Europe. Their departure day was January 12, 1916. They marched to great fanfare from Otho Street up to the railway station, which once stood at Ring Street.
They were part of one fifth of the entire district population who enlisted in total.
Inverell and District Family History Group member Ann Hodgens said the anniversary could provide recognition for all individuals who served in the war.
“This is something the community can be really proud of. It’s a unique piece of history that we can use as our commemoration of World War I,” she said.
“It’s also a way of honouring a way all the men who went to the war, not just the Kurrajongs. This could be the catalyst.
“It’s a way of marking the contribution of the whole comm-unity.
“The whole community got behind the war effort.”
She explained that besides operating an enormous support network for the soldiers overseas, the Inverell district also continued to raise money for the hospital, schools, churches and infrastr-ucture.
“How they did it, I don’t know,” she said.
Kim Blomfield is very dedicated to the project. Her great-uncle Private Alan Mather was a Kurrajong and his remains were found in Belgian battlefields in 2008. She said the connection to the Inverell soldiers is extremely emotive and knows one individual whose father was a Kurrajong whose family has strong ties to the history.
“He has said to me that he believes he would probably have 40 family members attending. It could be a huge boon for Inverell if it (embraces) it,” Kim said.
Senator John Williams has pledged his support of the project. He said there is $125,000 available in each electorate for World War I commemorations.
“One of my passions is the history of the Australian Diggers, and of course the Kurrajongs were part of that history back in 1916.
“I said look, anything my office can do to help, we will do. I’ve suggested they form a committee to organise the re-enactment of the Kurrajongs; I’ve spoken to the Veteran’s Affairs Minister Michael Ronaldson to put in his diary to make sure he’s up in Inverell for it,” Senator Williams said.
“Commemorating the Kurrajongs’ march of 1916 would be a great thing for respect and the community.”
Ann said it is the time to get the project started.
“We need people to come out and the thing is, we need to start planning now.
“Whilst a lot of people will say, ‘Oh, that’s two years away’, we need help now to get this off the ground because there’s quite a lot of planning to be done.”
