Nymagee’s Anzac Day dawn service was again well attended

The community of Nymagee marked Anzac
Day on Monday with a dawn service
organised by the Nymagee Progress Association
and it was attended by approximately
60 people.
The Anzac Day march commenced at the
Nymagee Police Station and was led by Ken
Dunne in his 1912 Overland Vintage car.
Michael Nicholson provided opening comments
and Phillip Harley delivered an
Acknowledgement of Country.
The Soldier’s Prayer was read by Ashley
Amos (a returned soldier who served in Afghanistan
and Iraq), the Ode by Sarah Weston
and a poem, We Remember Them, was read
by Jenny Nicholson.
Constable David Bates raised the flag and
Cobar historian John Collins, who has a family
connection to Nymagee, was invited to give
this year’s Anzac Day address.
“It is important, now more than ever that we
celebrate Anzac Day and that we recognise
the sacrifice that young men and women have
paid in all theatres of war over the last 120
years,” John said in his address.
“In many cases the supreme sacrifice was
paid. Many returned and went on to lead normal
lives, but also there were many who
found it difficult to resume a normal life after
and they also became casualties of war.
“So we owe it to these brave men and women
to never let it be forgotten, and Anzac Day
is our way of remembering and never forgetting.”
John said it was good to see that Anzac Day
events were getting bigger each year and ensuring
those who had made sacrifices in wars
would not be forgotten.
In his address he painted a picture of what
Nymagee looked like when World War I
broke out in Europe in 1914.
“Nymagee was still a bustling town of approximately
2,000 people,” he said.
“The big mine up on the hill was still working,
employing hundreds and there was plenty
of men working on stations in the district.
“There were seven pubs doing good business.”
He said a lot of young men and women enlisted
to serve and fight from country towns
just like Nymagee.
“Some were only in their teens or early 20s.
“The Honour Roll in the Nymagee Hall
shows the names of many who enlisted during
the first and second world wars.
“However those few names mentioned on
our Honour Roll are just a fraction of the men
and women who enlisted and had connections
with Nymagee,” John said.
“The number runs into the hundreds in both
wars and they all have a story to tell.”
He outlined the service of a few including
nursing sister Marie Florence Whitlock who
enlisted in 1917 and served in Egypt; Jack
Bray who enlisted in May 1916 and was
killed in France four months later; Thomas
Hudson who enlisted in 1916 and fought on
the Western Front, was killed in 1917 and has
no known grave; Alexander Lilley, who received
a Distinguished Conduct Medal for
directly saving many lives on the Western
Front; Michael Ernest Smith, who enlisted in
1916 and was killed in October 1918 when his
transport ship was torpedoed by a German
submarine; and it was unclear what happened
to 43 year old boundary rider Frank Roberts,
who had already seen service in the Boer
War, and did not return after enlisting in
WWI.
“The Metropolitan Hotel was owned by the
Hennessey family for about 40 years. There
were three Hennessy brothers who enlisted,
John, Michael and Vincent. Only Michael and
Vincent came home,” John said.
A breakfast followed in the Nymagee Hall
which was provided by the Nymagee Progress
Association and Hera Mine