The sacrifice of 20 WWI diggers from the towns of Kearlsley, Abernethy and Edenville have been honoured with memorial plaques at the Remembrance Garden at Kearsley Community Hall.
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A project of the Kearsley Dawn Service Committee, the plaques were the culmination of intensive research into the identities of the men who ad lived and worked in the villages before enlisting and making their way to Gallipoli and the Western Front.
Committee member Jordan Fallon said the idea started as a small research project.
“We initially thought there was only nine local men from Kearsley and Abernethy., then in preparation for ANZAC Day this year we started looking around and doing a bit of research,” he said.
“We looked in a few history books and found a couple of names, and they were names that we’d never heard – there were people from countries like South Africa who had come down to work in the mines and may’ve only been here for three or six months.”
Mr Fallon added that their initial discovery of a couple of names, quickly snowballed into 20.
“Nobody really knew about them, they had been forgotten,” Mr Fallon said. “And I think that’s part of our role here at the Dawn Service Committee, to make sure that these men aren’t forgotten and their sacrifice and memory live on for another generation.
“There were 16 that went over and came back, some with pretty serious wounds – a couple lost eyes and limbs and there were four that were killed in action and two whose bodies were never recovered.”
The plaques were unveiled, last week, in a special remembrance ceremony that was attended by the Governor of New South Wales, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC.
Committee chairman Dale Goldie added that the Governor’s attendance at the ceremony was a huge honour.
“It was excellent,” Mr Goldie said. “The Governor was absolutely wonderful.”
Mr Fallon added: “What we took out of it was that a century on from their service, at least they’re being recognised finally especially by Governor and Mrs Hurley. It’s a wonderful recognition.”
The soldiers honoured were:
Abernethy
Private Edwin Apthorpe, 34th Battalion
Private William Costello, 54th Battalion
Sergeant Alfred Ellis, 35th Battalion
Gunner Leslie Hines, 37th Battalion
Private Kenneth McDonald, 34th Battalion
Private Thomas O’Hara, 35th Battalion
Private James Ridgely, 17th Battalion
Driver William Smurthwaite, 30th Battalion
Private Charles Staunton, 34th Battalion
Sapper Cyril Todman*, 2nd Australian Tunnelling Corps
Private William Warren*, 35th Battalion
Kearsley
Corporal Alec Barrett, 4th Battalion
Private Charles Cook, 17th Battalion
Private Henry Cooper*, 35th Battalion
Private James Forrest, 34th Battalion
Private Peter Lefevre, 36th Battalion
Private George Masters, 35th Battalion
Private Reuben Rundle*, 19th Battalion
Edenville
Sapper Henry Campbell, Tunnelling Company 4
Sergeant Edward McEvoy, 4th Battalion
