THE gesture by Orange RSL and Orange City Council to work collaboratively to install commemorative granite plaques at Orange’s Cenotaph will be acknowledged in the community as long overdue.
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The initiative, which now pays tribute to the service and sacrifice of Indigenous Australians and to women, is important on so many levels.
It is a gesture that should set an example to other towns and cities to follow in Orange’s footsteps.
In World War I, among the Australian troops were 1000 Aboriginals.
When the war ended not only did they have to deal with the same horrors of battle memories as non-Indigenous Australians, they were denied land under the soldier settlement agreement, which allowed all non-Indigenous ex-serviceman to be given a parcel of land, to begin a new life.
The 1000 soldiers who had served equally as valiantly were denied that privilege in a regrettable chapter of Australia’s history.
The plaque now in place is recognition of their service and sacrifice.
The second plaque is a tribute to the women who served Australia during conflicts as nurses and a myriad of other roles.
The role of women needs to be acknowledged as not only did they ‘keep the home fires burning’ in World War I and worked in factories and on farms while men were away fighting in subsequent wars, they were at the coalface of living with and caring for loved ones affected by what they had seen on the battlefield or experienced as a prisoner of war.
Before intensive counselling was offered to war veterans it was often women who had to face the day to day struggles of their, husband, brother or son as they tried to regain a semblance of a normal life when war ended.
And so Anzac Day 2016 will take on a greater significance for members of our community.
