Wednesday October 23, 2024
Volume 39 No. 39
$2 inc. GST
The Cobar Weekly Cobar Weekly wins Country Press awards Pg 2 & 3
Search for missing cyclist called off Pg 2
Arts Council competition prize winners Pg 4
Iron Ringer monument is a work of art
A monument, a work of art, a tourist at- were gone and did not come back. tion, chaos and uncertainty leading to a need traction—Cobar’s newly installed Iron Ring “It was a unifying feeling of ‘we survived— for a sense of identity, stability and loyalty, means different things to different people. we’re still here’. people you could rely on.” It’s been just over three years since local “The idea of the ‘iron ring’ that bound peo- Donations, including a $10,000 contribution historian John Collins came up with the idea of ple together and could not be broken arose out from Aurelia Metals/Peak Gold Mines and a an Iron Ringer monument and now that idea of this and was deeply important.” public subscription for pavers, has helped to has come to fruition as a unique sculpture at Mr Langford said it was about loyalty and fund the construction of the monument which the eastern entrance to town. having childhood in common. aims to be a celebration of the Iron Ringer John worked with an Iron Ringer committee “It can be summed up as a period of disrup- identity. on the idea of building a monument and it was brought to life via a concept drawing by local artist Pete Rogers and the craftsmanship of KML Industries’ tradesmen. The new monument, standing three metres tall, is made of plate steel, and was mounted on a solid concrete slab adjacent to the Miners Memorial Park (opposite the Great Cobar Museum) last Wednesday. Interpretive signage, pavers, paths and landscaping are yet to be installed. According to Cobar history, the term ‘Iron Ringer’ was a privileged title that could only be bestowed on people who were born in Cobar. The idea came about in the 1950s, with Cobar-born Clarrie Pretty declaring that due to the transient nature of the population, to be a true local, an Iron Ringer, you needed to be born in Cobar. A close, personal friend of Mr Pretty’s, local solicitor Geoffrey Langford, recalls a discussion he and Mr Pretty had about Iron Ringers. “Most of the pioneers—the ‘founding fathers’ [and mothers] were not born in Cobar. “These people of the post-Federation generation developed a strong sense of connection because of the diminishing of Cobar after 1919 when thousands of people left town,” Mr Cobar Shire Council and Aurelia Metals/Peak Gold Mines staff with members of the Langford told the Iron Ringer committee. “Family and friends they had grown up with Iron Ringer committee at the newly installed Iron Ringer monument last week.