JANUARY 12, 1916, holds special significance for the Inverell district. On that day families, friends and workmates lined the streets of Inverell to farewell 114 men who answered the call to serve King and country.
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They were to enter folklore as The Kurrajongs, a name derived from the hardy evergreen trees prevalent in the district.
The Kurrajongs were, at the time, the largest single group to leave a country town together for war service.
They formed one of nine ‘snowball’ recruiting marches held in NSW.
Thousands gathered to farewell these men as they marched proudly through the town’s streets.
The Kurrajongs, wearing white hats, carried a large banner proclaiming “Inverell’s 100 for the New Army.”
The mayor gave the official farewell proclaiming, “This is one of the proudest days in Inverell’s history”, and promised that these men would not be forgotten in Inverell.
Upon arrival at the railway station, the Kurrajongs boarded a special train to take them to camp.
Along the way the train stopped overnight at Kelly’s Gully, near Warialda and at Moree where further recruiting rallies were held and more volunteers joined them.
The Kurrajongs First Contingent in 1916 was the largest group of men to leave a country town together for War service.
Further contingents followed during the next two months.
Most of these men became part of the 33rd and 34th Battalions and served with the 3rd Division on the Western Front in France and Belgium.
One in five did not return, while many others were badly wounded or gassed. In total approximately 1200 men and women from the Inverell district served during World War I.
In 1916 the North West Rugby Union Club, based at Inverell, had the highest number of NSW country rugby players volunteer for the War.
Inverell won the Governor’s Shield in 1918 for the highest number of recruits per head of population during a recruiting campaign held in May that year.
In 2008 the remains of Inverell’s Kurrajong Private Alan Mather were found in Belgium. The find was significant, due to the equipment and clothing found with him.
