Thursday 11 August 2016

Road Trip 2016 - Day 26 (2nd August) - "Coo-ee March" Gallery in Gilgandra

We say goodbye to Kay and Peter this morning at the Big 4 in Dubbo - and thank them so much for the extra discount they made available to us.
It's a pretty cold morning - but the forecast rain holds off and we have an easy pack up this morning.

The rain is starting as we are heading out of Dubbo and continues most of our journey today.

We are heading for the Gulargambone Caravan Park today - this is a park that gets an amazing rap on Wikki Camps and we are looking forward to checking out what all the hype is about in this tiny out of the way village between Gilgandra and Coonamble.

On route we make a coffee stop in Gilgandra - stopping way longer than planned as the "Coo-ee March" display they have at the information centre is well worth taking your time for a decent look through.

If you zoom up the photos here - you will be able to read a summary of the historic "Coo-ee March" - how it came about and the contribution made by the Gilgandra region during WW1.
The marchers were greeted by country hospitality travelling through regional towns and averaging 16km / day. At evening stops there were dinners and dances to attend.










A Dead Man's Penny was given to the families of servicemen/women killed in action in WW1



It seems to me that many men were under a lot of peer and public pressure to join up when these marchers arrived in their area - and then there was the excitement of just being part of these marchers going off to war and the special treatment they were receiving along the way. Therefore many young men I feel would have been caught up in the hype and not really thought too much about the fact they they would be in the army, and not treated so special then, and going off to more than an exciting trip abroad to the war zones. Many of them unfortunately did not return to this country, even to be buried, but did fight unwaveringly for King and country.
Lest We Forget!!


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