www.awnw.com.au
Issue #313 – Wednesday, 13 January, 2016
Albury Wodonga’s largest circulating newspaper
Now, it’s the year that was THIS week s issue looks back on last year s events that took place around the Border and the surrounding district as well as moments that were captured in a photograph ... SEE MORE INSIDE
Our Anzac hero By GARRY HOWE THIS year we got to meet some of the men on marble. These are the graziers, clerks, railwaymen; the sons and daughters of the Border who marched headlong and without question to the Great War, many never to return. Their names are etched on the gardens of stone dotted around the Border, or etched in gold lettering on timber honour boards that hang in RSLs or memorial halls. In 2015, many of these names came to life as celebrations were held to mark the Anzac Centenary - 100 years since the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 that is said to have given a young nation its identity on the world stage. None epitomised that Anzac spirit more than the Border’s own war hero Albert Borella, who we name as the Albury-Wodonga NewsWeekly’s Person of the Year for 2015, on behalf of his many comrades. His quest to enlist was a feat in itself and his exploits on the battlefield once there only built on his legend earning the military’s highest honour, the Victoria Cross. Albert found himself in the Northern Territory outback when war broke out and, desperate to enlist, began an arduous 1000-kilometre journey on foot, horseback and mail cart to get from Tennant Creek to Darwin to sign up. When he got there, he discovered Darwin had no place for enlistment, so he boarded a ship to Townsville and signed up in that Queensland city. To mark the Anzac Centenary, Albert’s grandson Richard Borella retraced his journey, with four generations of family members travelling to the Northern Territory in support. The Borella Ride became a flagship
Rowan and Richard Borella follow in the footsteps of Albert across the Northern Territory. 135794
Albert Borella. 137815 Picture: COURTESY OF THE BORELLA RIDE
2015 PERSON OF THE YEAR Anzac Centenary event for the Northern Territory, supported by the Federal Government. A statue marking his remarkable story - and incredible bravery on the front - now stands at Peards Nursery in Albury. The Borella legend grew as the war was reaching its climax in mid-1918 on the French fields of Villers-Brettoneux. Lieutenant Borella was fighting with his Enoggera-raised 26th Battalion as the Allies launched their Spring Offensive. His men came under heavy machine-gun fire, so Lt Borella broke
away and single-handedly silenced the two enemy gunners with his revolver. He then led his men, now depleted to just 10, down a strongly-held enemy trench. With two Lewis machine-guns, their rifles and revolvers, they worked their way through the trench, staving off two enemy counter attacks. With 30 prisoners in tow and many enemy casualties, Lt Borella had become a hero and was presented with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Sandringham Palace in September 1918, only two months before the war would end.
Photograph of, from left to right: Princess Mary, Lieutenant A.C. Borella VC MM, 26th Battalion AIF, Her Majesty Queen Mary, Captain R. Shankland Canadian Infantry, His Majesty King George V, Sergeant W.E. Brown VC DCM 20th Battalion AIF and the Prince of Wales, taken after Lieutenants Borella and Brown and Captain Shankland had been presented with their Victoria Crosses by King George V at Picture: COURTESY OF THE BORELLA RIDE Sandringham. 137815 (AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL)
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