A project five years in the making, the Iron Ring monument, was officially opened on Saturday morning.
The monument/work of art and now tourist attraction, which stands at the eastern entrance to Cobar, was the idea of local historian John Collins.
John, along with Mayor Jarrod Marsden and 96 year old Eric Manns (who is believed to be Cobar’s oldest Iron Ringer) were given the job of cutting the ribbon at Saturday’s official opening.
The background and significance of the monument was explained by one of the event’s guest speakers, Dale McLeod, a member of the Iron Ringer committee and an Iron Ringer himself
Dale said the man behind the Iron Ring, was Clarence Pretty, better known as Clarrie, who was born in Cobar in 1919.
“The town’s population at the time of Clarrie’s birth was around 10,000.
“However, in March of the same year the Great Cobar Mine shut, and this would have been a major shock to the community and the first major decline in the town’s population,” Dale said.
“He grew up during the years of The Great Depression and witnessed Cobar’s population reduced to less than 1,000 people.
“He would have seen families leave Cobar, most to never return, and those difficult years would have made an impact on the young man and the Cobar community that remained in town,” Dale said.
“In the mid 1930’s, the opening of the New Occidental and Chesney mines saw the town of Cobar come to life again.”
In 1937, Clarrie got a job at the New Occidental Mine, working in administration.
The New Occidental Mine closed in October 1952 and once again Cobar’s population went into decline, as people again left the district.He later became an accountant with Cobar Mines Pty Ltd in 1957 and company secretary in 1965 when the CSA Mine reopened. He retired in 1981 and died in 1996 at the age of 77.
Clarrie spent 13 years as a Cobar Shire Councillor and during that time he saw the water pipeline come to Cobar, streets sealed, the swimming pool opened, and a new school and hospital built.
He also made other contributions to the town serving on the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club and Cobar Hospital boards, Cobar Miners Race Club committee, Cobar Arts Council, the Chamber of Commerce, was a Trustee of Dalton Park Racecourse, a Deputy Sherrif, and was a Life Member of the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club and Cobar Show Society.
In 1982 Clarrie received an Order of Australia for his dedicated service and contributions to the community of Cobar.
It was at some stage in the 1950’s that Clarrie came up with the concept of the ‘Iron Ringer’, an honary title for people born and bred in Cobar.
Geoffrey Langford, a good friend of Clarrie’s, believes that the idea derives from a time when our population was diminished, when family and friends that had grown up with each other had left the town and did not come back.
It was a unifying feeling of “we’ve survived, we’re still here” for the people that remained.
The idea of the “Iron Ring” was that it bound people together when times were tough.
Clarrie recognised that people who had been born in Cobar and stayed on during the difficult years, or left town and returned later, had a special bond. “They were part of a link that couldn’t be broken. They were part of an Iron Ring that is now part of the Cobar ethos and has become part of the Cobar identity,” Dale said.
“Even though fewer people are born in Cobar these days, the Iron Ring still exists and binds us together, and for that reason I believe it’s as relevant today as it was in the 50’s,” Dale said.
John Collins recognised Peter Rogers, KML Industries, Cobar Shire Council, Heath Prendergast (As Per Plan Construction), Aurelia Metals, Great Cobar Museum staff, The Cobar Weekly, Chris Deighton, Tom McBride, the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club’s golf day, the Iron Ring Committee and all those who had made donations and bought pavers
