As the state-wide Cooee March approaches, towns and villages along the route are now finalising arrangements to welcome the marchers to their communities, commemorating all those who volunteered to service in WWI.
The Central Western portion of the march, the Boomerang March, is a unique part of the history of the region. The March was one of nine snowballing recruiting marches held throughout NSW in late 1915 and early 1916.
In this centenary year of the ANZAC, the 2015 Boomerang March aims to use this history of volunteering to focus on the present day volunteers who serve our communities – the Rural Fire Service, the State Emergency Service, Defence Reserves, the Country Women’s Association, Progress Associations, Rotary, Lions, Apex, sporting and special purpose committees.
“The energy and effort that local groups and individuals are putting into this commemoration continues to amaze me. Some of these communities are very small, yet they are embracing the March with open arms – very much in the spirit of volunteering that we are celebrating,” said March coordinator Kim Templeton.
The March will pass through Forbes, Eugowra, Gooloogong, Canowindra, Billimari, Cowra, Woodstock, Lyndhurst, Mandurama, Carcoar, Blayney, Newbridge and Perthville. The March will leave Parkes on Saturday 31 October and end in Bathurst on Tuesday 10 November where the Boomerangs meet up with the Kookaburra March coming
from Tooraweenah via Mudgee.
March organisers are looking for full-time or part-time marchers to represent their community in this unique opportunity to relive a special part of history. An Expression of Interest form is available on the Boomerang
website www.cooeemarch.org.au/boomerangs.