Wives and children, mothers and fathers, were left behind to carry on with a life and tend stock, land and home without their loved ones.

Though 600 district men had already departed for the Great War to serve for Britain, on January 12, 1916, 114 volunteers calling themselves The Kurrajongs marched from Otho Street to the former Inverell railway station. 

One hundred years later, and a small but committed team of Inverell volunteers has taken two years to assemble and create a grand re-enactment of that march this Sunday. Though satellite events will pop up across Inverell in the next several days, the procession in the footsteps of the optimistic, excited or even fearful young soldiers of 1916 will be a step back to that heady time of war and sacrifice.

Like our own youth today, some were eager for the opportunity to see the world.

Many modern producers will empathise with the early farmers who had endured drought, and sought the secure income provided to a soldier to keep their homes and families afloat.

As before and afterwards in that terrible war, many did not come home.

Among the ranks of the returned were men in physical and mental tatters from the horror endured. This is an opportunity to walk along the symbolic path from Inverell’s town centre to the bleak and dangerous ground where war was waged.

Despite the international platform of the First World War, the story of the Kurrajongs dissolved within a generation.

This weekend’s Re-enactment March is the chance to pass on the history and the stories which shaped our district to our younger generation and adults who do not know the story.

To all those on the committee, the countless hands who created poppies, who offered their time, talent, creativity and care, we commend you. 

It is a once in a lifetime event, and we hope to see you all there.