This was no ordinary Premer Anzac Day service for descendants of John Wallace McMaster.
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The occasion marked 100 years since the Premer farmer known as Wallace departed Australia for England and ultimately, the First World War battlefield.
“We have four generations of the family here today,” Wallace’s great-nephew Ian Rabone said.
He travelled from Wauchope for the service.
Just how his great uncle came to be fighting for the British, is a story in itself, Ian said.
Raised in Premer, Wallace initially sought to serve in the Australian Army but was denied due to poor eyesight.
So in February 1916, he left Premer and jumped on ship bound for England. Well, sort of.
The ship left Sydney and sailed via Honolulu, Canada and New York among other exotic destinations – an eye-widening experience for young man from country NSW.
Once in England, Wallace applied to join the British Air Force but was turned away again.
Eventually he was accepted into the British Army and posted to the Royal Garrison Artillery.
Two years after he left the Premer plains, Lieutenant McMaster was shot and killed at Cambrai, France.
The date was September 11, 1918 – just two months before Armistice Day.
Ian’s daughter, Helen Doyle, who travelled from Armidale for the Premer service, grew up hearing about Wallace.
“It’s something I’ve always known of,” Helen said.
RSL representative Carol Lees led the Premer service and read to a few lines from the poem, A prayer for a fallen soldier, to commemorate Anzac Day 2016.
“God Bless my men, who now lie dead.
Their hearts will be still and cold inside,
for they have fought their best and did so with pride.
So please take care of them as they pass your way
the price of freedom they’ve already paid.”
