A Minute with Mayor McKibbin - 2 May 2025
Published on 02 May 2025
The past week in the Oberon Council area has been centred around ANZAC services and commemorative events. On Thursday 24th April, six young Turkish students came to Oberon to commemorate the Gallipoli landings and to pay tribute to Australian and New Zealand veterans. Oberon relatives of WW1 Diggers at Gallipoli, including the Whalan family, attended the ceremony with State Member Paul Toole and Deputy Mayor Katie Graham.
On Friday the 25th of April, ANZAC Day commenced with Dawn Services at Oberon, Black Springs and O’Connell. I attended the O’Connell Dawn Service with my wife and stepson Henry. A memorable and moving service with fog blanketing the recreation ground, banners with the names of the fallen from O’Connell surrounding the flagpole, St Thomas church as the backdrop and under the Deodar trees. The former Mayor, Mark Kellam, presided as master of Ceremonies and told the story of the nurse Ida Burns from O’Connell, who sailed to Egypt on the ship Mooltan with a contingent of 273 newly enlisted nurses in June 1917 including Edith Purdon, Annie Bartlett & Clara Webb all born in Bathurst district. Ida Burns then boarded another ship in Egypt which transported her to the Imperial General Canvas Tent Hospital at Salonica in Greece. The conditions at Salonika were appalling, freezing in winter and scorching in summer. They had to contend with fire, snow, mud, malaria, dysentery, typhus, flies, lice, lack of food and supplies together with thieves. In July 2017, Ida was admitted to a Red Cross Care Home for 2 weeks. Many nurses were infected with dysentery and malaria and died or were returned to Australia.
At the conclusion of the O’Connell Dawn Service Charlotte Bertwistle lead the crowd in singing the National Anthem followed by Damian Bellamy playing the last post and the Reveille on his bugle. Appropriately, the Magpies and Kookaburras chimed in with their own chorus to the fallen.
Commodore Simon Howard, the Commodore Australian Flotillas (COMFLOT) based at HMAS Kuttabul, RAN Fleet Headquarters (just above Garden Island Sydney) was the designated armed forces representative for Oberon, together with his Lieutenant Luke Murray and Warrant Officer Tegan Wright OAM. Commodore Howard provided an insightful account of Australia’s submarine AE 2 which on 25 April 1915 penetrated the Dardanelles and enter the Sea of Marmora. The AE2, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Henry Stoker, played a crucial role in boosting morale for Allied forces at Gallipoli and disrupting Turkish shipping. The AE2 was eventually sunk by Turkish fire on April 30, 1915, and the crew was captured. All of the crew survived the sinking, but four died in captivity.
The ANZAC march in Oberon at 10:30am, from council chambers to the Oberon War memorial, had a large contingent of war veterans together with children representing Oberon’s two primary schools and High School. On reaching the War Memorial wreaths were laid, veterans honoured, and the national anthem played. The Greek Community of Sydney presented a marble plaque to be installed on the war memorial from the Island of Lemos commemorating the ANZACs who had landed there as their last stop before Gallipoli and to reflect on how Lemos was crucial in treating injured ANZAC troops evacuated from Gallipoli. The service following the march in the RSL Club auditorium was addressed by Lieutenant Luke Murray who spoke on the enduring spirit of the ANZACs being the unity of Australia and New Zealand in their first war as independent nations, the mateship, looking after your neighbour and helping those in trouble which was borne from the ANZAC spirit.
There were record numbers of attendees at the Dawn Services and the Oberon march.
Burraga residents held their ANZAC service at 10am on Sunday 27th at ANZAC Memorial Park.
On Saturday 26 April, the Oberon Community Services Committee staged Picnic in the park at the Common. There were over 20 stall holders. There were a range of kid’s activities, roving Cirque um Navigate entertainers, a mobile animal farm and a free community BBQ. Live music was played throughout the day. The event was well attended and the rain held off till the early afternoon.
A reminder that On Saturday 3 May 7.30 to 8.30pm at Malachi Gilmore Hall the Award-winning choir Soulfood will be workshopping their repertoire of songs for their upcoming recording of classic Australian pop songs – Songs from Our Backyard. The hour-long performance of their current Australian repertoire, featuring songs by Cold Chisel, Missy Higgins, Paul Kelly, The Easybeats, John Farnham, Sia, Icehouse, Tina Arena will be open to the public.
O’Connell residents will have a second opportunity to contribute to the Oberon Land Use Study on Tuesday 6 May at 7:00pm at the O’Connell Fire Shed. This session will focus on strategic planning and land use in and around O’Connell.
A reminder that on Friday 9 May at 10.30am the Oberon District Museum will hold a More Oberon Treasures publication launch, with a morning tea at the Library & Community Hub. A committee has been interviewing 20 senior citizens and recording “their story”. These interviews are ready for publication and will be included on the Museums website to add to the district local history collection.
Andrew McKibbin
Mayor