Towns and villages along the route are now finalising arrangements to welcome the Boomerang March to their community and commemorate all those who volunteered for service in WWI.
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The Boomerang March is a unique part of the history of the region.
The March was one of nine snowballing recruiting marches held throughout NSW in late 1915 and early 1916.
Despite the horrors of Gallipoli, men and women continued to volunteer to serve their country, knowingly committing themselves to a very uncertain future.
In this centenary year of ANZAC, the 2015 Boomerang March aims to use this history of volunteering to focus on the present-day volunteers who serve our communities – the Rural Fire Service, the State Emergency Service, Defence Reserves, the Country Women’s Association, Progress Associations, Rotary, Lions, Apex, sporting and special purpose committees.
March organisers are looking for full-time or part-time marches to represent their community in this unique opportunity to re-live a special part of history.
An Expression of Interest form is available on the Boomerang website www.cooeemarch.org.au/boomerangs.
Activities in each town are being coordinated by local organisers, whose details are also available from the website.
The Parkes celebration was outlined in detail in Friday’s edition.
The March will start in Parkes and pass through Forbes, Eugowra, Gooloogong, Canowindra, Billimari, Cowra, Woodstock, Lyndhurst, Mandurama, Carcoar, Blayney, Newbridge and Perthville.
“The energy and effort that local groups and individuals are putting into this commemoration continues to amaze me,” March coordinator Kim Templeton said.
“Some of these communities are very small, yet they are embracing the March with open arms – very much in the spirit of volunteering that we are celebrating.”
The March will leave Parkes on Saturday, October 31, and end in Bathurst on Tuesday, November 10, where the Boomerang March meets up with the Kookaburra March, coming from Tooraweenah via Mudgee.
Following a commemorative service at the Bathurst War Memorial, both groups will then travel to Sydney to attend the Remembrance Day service in Sydney, along with the Cooee March and the Men from Snowy River March.
Representatives from the other snowballing recruiting marches – the Kangaroos, Waratahs, North Coast Boomerangs, Wallabies and Kurrajongs – will also be attending the service in Sydney.
More information on all these marches is available through www.cooee march.org.au
