*ANZAC Day: Coolah, NSW. '09.

Coolah WWI exhibition

Coolah is a small  town in country New South Wales. (31^o42’25.23” S, 149^o43’12.6”E)

On Anzac Day 2009, Graeme Hosken, the editor of DIGGER, travelled to Coolah, NSW, to view the town’s launch of its display on WWI soldiers and airmen from the surrounding district. The exhibition was held in the Pandora Room of the Library until 7^th May and was put together by two local men, Jim Elliott and Roy Cameron.

Since December 2008, Jim has been researching from sources, such as newspapers and honour rolls, and utilising the National Archive’s service records, all those enlistments with a connection to Coolah. As with any rural town in the 1900s, many of the ‘locals’ were itinerant labourers working on district farms, but there was also a core of long-established families who gave their sons or husbands to the war effort.

While Lieut Col Arnott may be the most well-known local to have served, there were a considerable number of men who were awarded bravery medals for service in the Infantry, Light Horse or Australian Flying Corps (AFC).

Each Digger had their story told in a framed biography, and medal citations were provided when appropriate. Supporting these profiles were framed paintings, AWM photographs, recruitment posters and an excellent display of memorabilia.

Jim and Roy, and the town of Coolah, are to be congratulated for putting together such a wonderful tribute to the men (and one woman) who served in the Great War.

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The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.