Cobar Miners Memorial committee chairman Barry Knight is hoping there will be a good roll up for the Night to Remember Miners Memorial Service this Friday night.
The Cobar Weekly caught up with Mr Knight last week and the Miner’s Ghost to find out about this new event that’s been added to the 2017 Festival of the Miner’s Ghost program.
The Miners Memorial service will pay homage to those who lost their lives as a result of working in Cobar mines and to the contributions they made to our community.
“It will be a simple service with some guest speakers and should take about three-quarters of an hour,” Mr Knight said.
“It’s not so much a religious event, it’s more of a respectful service.
“Fr Graham McLeod from Nyngan is going to officiate; Peter Abbott, a former mining engineer at CSA Mine will talk about his experiences and some of his mates who were actually on the list of lost miners; Barry Grant (Jnr), who has a vast experience in mining, will talk about how mining has evolved.”
Mr Grant came to Cobar in 1967 with his family and went to Cobar High School. He went on to become a mining engineer and came back in the 80s and was the underground mining manager at CSA for some time.
“He then moved away with Rio Tinto and worked around all over the place and retired last year,” Mr Knight said.
The service will also feature Cobar High School’s school captain Owen Potter who will recite a poem, and museum curator Kay Stingemore will talk about some of Cobar’s mining history.
Mrs Stingemore has identified seven different nationalities of people who worked in the mines in the Cobar area and they will be honoured with flags of their countries to be flown at the museum.
The service will be followed by a barbecue at the museum and proceeds from the barbecue will go to the Cobar Miners Memorial fund which is fundraising to build a memorial to those who have lost their lives as a result of mining in Cobar.
Mr Knight said they have raised just over $90,000 to date for the project but will be relying on grants to get them to their target of $280,000.
The Night to Remember will kick off a big weekend of activities including cemetery tours, Peak Mine surface tours, markets and golf.
