PLANS to upgrade Delungra’s ANZAC Park in readiness for next year’s Centenary of ANZAC received a boost this week when Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall met with community representatives to discuss the project and funding options.
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Mr Marshall said the Delungra District Development Committee was an active and passionate group of local residents and he was very pleased to see the community wanting to properly commemorate the sacrifices of its past citizens.
Mr Marshall said the DDDC had a $26,000 proposal and that Inverell Shire Council had agreed to support the project.
“If I can secure funding from the NSW Government, council will match it on a dollar-for-dollar basis,” Mr Marshall said.
Development Chairman Jim Townsend welcomed Mr Marshall to Delungra and thanked him for his interest and support in the large project.
“We will be building an arched gateway with wings coming from the side of the main pillars and on these we will place a roll of honour of all the men and women from Delungra, Myall Creek, Graman, Mt Russell, Little Plane and Koloona who lost their lives serving in the Australian Defence Forces during those conflicts,” Mr Townsend said.
“The inscription across the top of the archway will be read ‘Australia and NZ – 1915 to 2015’.
“We will also be building a pathway from the entrance up to the Rock of Remembrance, that’s our cenotaph.”
Mr Marshall recognised the proud history and contribution the small community had made to the two World Wars, Vietnam and subsequent conflicts, seeing 245 residents off to areas of military engagement.
“When a mass grave of Australian troops was discovered near Fromelles in France in 2008, one of the first soldiers identified was a Delungra son, Cyril Johnston, and in his coat-pocket was a commemorative matchbox, a gift from the people of his home town,” Mr Marshall said.
