One in five did not return from what was meant to be the War to end all wars. 

The service was complete with speeches, hymns sung, prayer recitation, The Last Post, the Ode and Reveille.

Inverell RSL Sub-branch president Pat McMahon provided a brief, sobering account of the Kurrajongs’ first contingent who joined from Inverell to Moree.

“Of the 239 Kurrajong men, 134 were wounded and/or gassed and 53 were killed,” he said.

“Several died within six years of their return home.”

Inverell mayor Paul Harmon said the Kurrajongs were significantly different to former enlistment drives as news of the Gallipoli tragedy had been absorbed by the Australian public.

“They already knew; they knew it wasn’t this mystique of adventure, they knew what they were going to,” he said. 

Visiting archaeologist Richard Osgood, one of the team who recovered the remains of Private Alan Mather in 2008 in Belgium, spoke movingly to the assembly.

“It started with a pair of boots, boots worn by a soldier, clay covered iron shod and lying by a German trench where they fell, where he fell; for this was a man,” Mr Osgood said.

“A man whose boots had turned the dust of Inverell streets, which knew their way around Rivers Street and the old railway station, a Kurrajong.”

Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said he might have been one of the volunteers, though perhaps one of the older recruits who stepped forward.

“This whole weekend, all the events, it’s been an incredibly fitting tribute to the sacrifice, the service that was rendered to our country,” he said. 

“You can actually get a really strong feeling for that patriotic fervour, and it really makes you realise that although it was only 100 years ago, it was a very different country then to what it is now.”

Senator John Williams remarked on the sacrifice made by parents and men by signing those enlistment papers.

“Sign here and your son could be killed – big effort from the parents,” Mr Williams said meaningfully.

“You know, the biggest message I got out of this weekend was the mayor’s message 100 years ago: ‘We will not forget you’.

“We heard of the Kurrajongs, but now we’ve actually learnt about them and I think this will flow on in years ago where they will be remembered and to honour the commitment of the mayor in those days.”

Local businesses have shown a huge amount of support to the Kurrajong re-enactment committee during the Inverell Remembers event with exhibitions, poppies and soldier profiles popping up all over town. Tourism Inverell has enthusiastically been involved since the planning stages, and staff have created a poppy display and exhibition to remember the local men who braved World War I. 

“We’ve actually been really proud to have been able to assist in the planning of what was a magnificent event,” tourism manager Peter Caddey said.

The exhibition includes medals, uniforms, newspaper articles and photos from Ian Small’s personal collection.

“The poppy display was arranged by the tourist centre staff. They actually put all that together,” vice president of the re-enactment committee Ann Hodgens said.

“There is a variety of things to see and it's certainly well worthwhile for people to look at”.

“I cannot tell you the amount of visitors that we’ve had through. There’s been so many have come to visit and be part of the Kurrajong re-enactment. There’s just been a huge flow of people just coming in day after day after day, which has been absolutely brilliant,” Peter said.

“Very honoured and proud to have the exhibition here. It’s a true part of Inverell’s history”.

“It’s been a really good educational process too. For those who don’t understand what the Kurrajong march was all about 100 years ago, there’s so many people now who have a better understanding and are, I think, quite humbled by the fact that these brave souls went away to fight in the war so that we could have the standard of life and the freedom and enjoy that as much as we do today”.

Ann said the committee was incredibly grateful for the support local businesses and community groups have given the event. 

“It's absolutely wonderful, we've been absolutely overwhelmed by the support right throughout the community”.

Before being shipped off to war, some never to return, the Kurrajongs were simply young men who loved being part of their local community. An exhibition at the Australian Hotel aims to bring the everyday lives of the World War I soldiers front and centre with a focus on their sporting achievements.

“It first came about because the Inverell rugby club had a commemorative match to mark the rugby players that went to war,” explained Ann Hodgens, vice president of the Kurrajong re-enactment committee.

“In the course of the research I was doing, I found a lot of soldiers had been sportsmen before the war”. The committee also researched cricketers in preparation for the test match which was part of the Inverell Remembers activities last week, and found stories about some of the rifle club men.

“We’ve had a lot of people through,” hotel manager Damien Smith said.

“It’s been pretty good actually. It’s a bit of interest there that a lot of people probably wouldn’t know of”. 

“One of the interesting things is like many organisations in many towns across Australia, those sporting programs and matches were greatly disrupted by the war and in many instances they had to stop the senior matches,” Ann said. So many men were lost to the war that it took time to build up their numbers again.

Ann said the re-enactment committee wanted to tell the stories of these ordinary men and their lives before war. 

“To give them a little bit more of a link to their community and what they did at home and what life was like,” she said.

“I think it’s pretty good for the town,” Damien said.

“It’s obviously brought quite a few people back to town who haven’t been here for a long time”.