Day, with students from all three local schools as well as local service groups and
returned servicemen laying wreaths to mark 101 years since the armistice which ended World War I.
At 11am on November 11, 1918 the guns fell silent on the Western Front in France and Belgium and, after four years of hostilities, World War I ended.
At 11am on Monday, 101 years after the event, a crowd gathered at Drummond Park to mark Remembrance Day and they too fell silent for a minute to remember all those who have lost their lives in war.
Deputy Mayor Peter Abbott spoke at Monday’s Remembrance Day service.
“World War I was meant to have been the war to end all wars but unfortunately this has not come to pass,” Cr Abbott said.
He said since then there has however been a “litany of wars throughout the globe”.
“We must never forget each and everyone of these souls who lost their lives.
“I am so gratified with the attendance today,” he said.
Robert Cooney, the secretary of the Cobar RSL Sub Branch (and former serviceman) led this year’s Remembrance Day Service.
Mr Cooney’s grandfather Thomas Cooney, was a World War II veteran who had been a major influence on his life.
Mr Cooney said it was his grandfather who encouraged him to pursue a career in the military.
Mr Cooney said while he had not been deployed in any conflicts during his 13 years of military service, he had the utmost respect for those who did.
“What our returned service personnel have had to endure and continue to endure, makes them heroes in my mind,” he said.
Mr Cooney said their families who stayed behind were also heroes in his eyes.
“Families and the community came together to keep factories going, looking after the property and livestock, looking after their family and supporting the men and
women who were thousands and thousands of kilometres away in foreign countries,” he said.
“Even today the same strength and courage can still be seen in communities all over Australia with all that is currently going on with the drought and bush fires.
“It is this strength and courage that is the Australian way from our forefathers and I hope our younger generation don’t lose that.
“I hope they learn from those that have experienced it first hand and try to make it better for the future of our community and this great land of ours,” Mr Cooney said.
