Joyce: Anzac centenary grants for Tamworth, Gunnedah and Tenterfield

17 Mar 2014

18 March 2014

 

FEDERAL Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce is delighted to announce three significant funding allocations as part of the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program.

 

Recipients of the grants in the New England Electorate included Tamworth RSL Sub-Branch, $10,000, Gunnedah Shire Council, $5,000 and Tenterfield Shire Council, $3,500.

 

Mr Joyce said the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program was a key element of the Australian Government’s Anzac Centenary supporting projects commemorating the First World War.

 

Mr Joyce said the New England had contributed many men and women to the cause including New England’s own, the famed 33rd Battalion of which its four companies were made up from recruits who came from centres across the region including Tamworth, Barraba, Armidale, Walcha, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Bonshaw and Gunnedah.

 

The 33rd Battalion took part in some of the key battles on the Western Front including Villers-Bretonneux where the decisive counter-attack by the Australians in 1918 was said to have turned the tide of the war.

 

“The New England has a proud history of honouring its men and women who served their country,” Mr Joyce said.

 

“Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

 

“These grants will play a significant role in keeping the tradition of honouring our service men and women alive,” he said.

 

Tamworth RSL Sub-Branch Vice-President Sandra Lambkin said the $10,000 grant would be used to publish a dictionary of biographies of the names of those on the memorial gates on the Brisbane Street side of Anzac Park.

 

She said the book, called Not Just Names in Stone, would be launched by Mr Joyce during a special ceremony at the gates on August 4, 2014, the centenary of the outbreak of the war.

 

Ms Lambkin said money raised from the sale of the book would then contribute funds for the celebrations in Tamworth of Australia’s 100th anniversary of the war on April 25, 2015.

 

She said the book contained many stories of those from Tamworth and the immediate district whose names appeared on the memorial gates.

 

“Some of them didn’t even last a day,” she said.

 

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