The sun has set on a Gunnedah and district working party, which coordinated more than 30 successful public commemorative events marking the 100th anniversary of the Great War (World War 1).
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The working party of Gunnedah Shire Council was headed by former mayor Owen Hasler and was set up in May 2013, to plan observances in the Gunnedah district, highlighting the centenary. Over the next five years, every major event arranged by the group drew a great response from the public.
The observances started on July 31, 2014, with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque at the Cenotaph and the launch of Gunnedah and District Historical Society’s publication, In The Line Of Fire, by member Ron McLean, which detailed Gunnedah’s contribution to the war effort and the local and district residents who responded to the rallying call for volunteers.
The launch also featured repeat screenings in The Civic of archival film from the battlefields of Europe.
In the lead-up to the day, Red Cross members were involved in the reading of the names of almost 200 Gunnedah and district volunteers who died during the conflict, with council and the working party coordinating a Poppies in the Park exhibition in Wolseley Park.
Another two commemorative plaques relating to the war were also laid.
Drama, song and dance performances, coordinated by local Maggie Denman under the banner of Echoes From The Trenches, were presented in The Civic.
An impressive World War 1 exhibition, Between The Crosses, curated by local historians Cate and Geordie Clark, drew large crowds to the Creative Arts Centre. The exhibition opened with musical performances by Gunnedah Shire Band, the Plains Pipes and Drums, and vocalist/accompanist Mike Brady.
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Later in the year, special events were organised to mark the centenary of the Wallaby March, from Narrabri to Newcastle, one of 10 similar efforts across NSW to boost enlistments for the Front. The marchers stayed overnight in Gunnedah in December 1915, raising close to 40 men after a night of rallying speeches. Many of those who enlisted at that time died in battle on the Western Front.
Special guests at a service at the cenotaph to observe the centenary were members of the Tudgey family, whose forebear, Lance Tudgey, was one of the marchers. On the Western Front, he was badly wounded and hospitalised for 17 months before he was able to return home. He died in March 1987 at the age of 89, the last of the local Wallabies.
During 2016, former local and international musician Anthony Snape came home from the United States to produce The Music of War and Peacetime in The Civic, as well as at a dinner show. He also ran musical workshops for school students.