Wednesday June 7, 2023
Volume 38 No. 19
$1 inc. GST
The Cobar Weekly Rain welcomed in the region Pg 2
Police appeal for assistance Pg 3
Funding secured for Federation Pg 4
War Memorial in final planning stages
A vision to build a war memorial at long to compile a comprehensive list of names Then Sub-branch president Don Bridle said Drummond Park that has been eight years to be included on the memorial. the memorial commemorated the sacrifice and in the planning, is about to become a reali- To date they have 535 names of Cobar resi- deeds of young Australian ANZACs at Galty. dents who served in World War I, 368 from lopoli and of “the sons and daughters of ANLocal John de Bruin and his small band of World War II, and 12 each from the Vietnam ZACs” during World War II, Korea, Malaya, helpers have been working with the RSL Sub and Korean wars and their research is ongoing. Borneo and the Vietnam conflicts. Branch Cobar committee and Cobar Shire The new memorial is to be incorporated with John said the memorial will take four months Council to build the memorial. the existing cenotaph which was a project of to construct and will be laid in place after the “In 2015 it was announced that we would the Cobar Sub-branch of the Returned Services area around the existing cenotaph has been rebuild a War Memorial for Cobar,” John said. League and was unveiled on Anzac Day 1986 designed to include better access with new “Having formed a close connection with the by the Federal Member Noel Hicks. wheelchair friendly paths. HMAS Rankin submarine crew, which started in 2016 with a Cobar visit by Commander Doug Theobald and 15 crew, I believe it’s a project that needs to be completed to honour those past and present that fought for our freedom. “My father always taught me: ‘Leave a place in better state than when you arrived there’. “This is part of that process,” he said. John began fundraising in earnest for the project in 2018 with the first Running on Empty Festival (ROEF) and it was during this festival that John met stonemason and car enthusiast, Ben Crombie from McMurtrie and Co in Orange, who was brought on board to help build Cobar’s War Memorial. John said Ben’s business has plenty of experience in building and restoring memorials, including having built the ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park, London. Coupled with the proceeds of last year’s ROEF event, along with a few other fundraisers, the committee now has enough money to go ahead with the project which will be completed with assistance from Cobar Shire Council. It’s also taken a research team, headed up by Emily Miller, Ben Crombie, Kay Stingemore, Kain Neale and John de Bruin at a War Kay Stingemore and Suzie Wells, nearly as Memorial planning meeting at Drummond Park on Thursday.