ORANGE is perhaps best known for its Boer War commitment by the courageous efforts of Sir Neville Howse who won a Victoria Cross when he rode his horse through a hail of bullets to rescue a young injured trumpeter bleeding from gunshot wounds.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
However, tomorrow the city will remember the 60 young men from Orange who volunteered to fight in a foreign land and the four who were killed in action.
A ceremony to mark the end of the war will take place at the Boer War Memorial located at the northern end of Robertson Park at 10.30am tomorrow and members of the public are invited to pay tribute.
Les McGaw from the Returned Services League in Orange will lead the service with an overview of the war.
Cr Reg Kidd will also speak about Orange’s direct involvement in the war and recite the Banjo Paterson poem The Last Parade.
Any descendants of men who went to the Boer War from Orange are invited to lay wreaths or attend the ceremony.
Orange’s Boer War Memorial has an interesting history, being moved twice from other locations in the city before finding its home in Robertson Park.
It was formerly located in the central business district but became something of a hazard after traffic ran into the memorial in the fog and the traffic volumes increased.
At the time Orange’s 60 young men volunteered to fight in the war the population of Orange was 6330.
Almost 1000 Australian soldiers paid the ultimate price and died in the conflict with thousands of horses never returning to Australia.
