WW1 Flag restored for future generations

A unique World War I flag that pays tribute to more than a dozen local men is back on display at the Anglican Parish of Mount Vincent and Weston.

The flag was hung in the church on 29 September 1923, and remained there for decades.

Following years of restoration work, it was proudly unveiled at a special service on 30 September 2023 – one day after the centenary of its original dedication.

Reverend Theresa Angert-Quilter said the flag was an important part of the local community.

“It’s very personal. I don’t think there’s anything like it in Australia,” she said.

“I’ve been here at this parish for more than seven years. One of our parishioners, Dorothy Fuller, has been talking about getting the flag restored since I showed up and she never let it go.

“The parish council has worked to bring the project to its fulfilment for a very long time.

“The community of the Mulbring Valley has a very strong ownership of this artefact.

“During the special service, many of the families were represented – and not just by one person.”

The 16 local men who had enlisted in World War I fought in campaigns at Gallipoli, the Western Front, and Palestine.

After the war, most of them returned to the Mulbring Valley.

The exceptions were the Rutherford brothers, whose parents had moved to Awaba, and two men – Claude Corner and Wesley Osland – who were sadly killed in action.

Parishioner Sharon Dyson-Smith spent months writing a book about the soldiers’ sacrifice and the flag’s creation.

She said there were some horrific stories.

“A lot of the men came home with trench foot; they had been shot through the face and had a lot of facial reconstruction; one man lost an eye.

“They all came home with legs and arms – that was pretty unusual at that time,” she said.

“Some were in infantry, some were in artillery. One man was a runner, so he ran the communications between the headquarters and the front line.

“Lots of them acted as stretcher-bearers. That was the most horrific job of all.

“They had to go out under fire and find what men they could, bring them in, and still protect themselves.”

Claude Corner was a local school teacher.

He arrived on the Western Front on Boxing Day and was killed on New Year’s Day.

“He was killed because he was curious,” Ms Dyson-Smith said.

“The fighting had died down and he popped his head up and a German sniper went bang.

“Wesley was a guard on duty at Hill 60 – a very famous area of the war. That was where the tunnellers, who came from all the coalfields around here, operated.

“They tunnelled underneath the German lines and packed 10 miles of tunnel with a ton of TNT and blew it at 3:10 in the morning.

“The Germans didn’t know what hit them – they lost about 8,000 men because they were all asleep.

“Wesley thought no one would notice and he lit up a cigarette. Bang went the sniper.

“He’d been there for a month.”

Following the war, ladies within the community chose the names for the flag.

The women then hand-stitched them onto the red ensign.

The names include three sets of brothers, four cousins, and all of them – barring Claude – are pioneer families of the Mulbring Valley.

Ms Dyson-Smith said the local community had banded together once again to complete the flag’s restoration.

“We received a Saluting their Service grant through [former Hunter MP] Joel Fitzgibbon. That paid for the basis of the restoration,” she said.

“But COVID-19, the length of time, intense work and extra material meant we were short about $3,500.

“So, Kurri Kurri RSL and Kurri Kurri Bowling Club stepped up. That is how we managed to get it finished.

“We’re lucky that it’s still surviving and hopefully it’ll last another hundred years.”

If you’d like a copy of Ms Dyson-Smith’s book, email kurrianglican@gmail.com.