SIGHTS SET ON ROUNDABOUT: Orange councillor Reg Kidd believes the roundabout at Anson and Byng streets would be an ideal location for a war memorial to recognise the role the community played in conflicts over the years.
ONE of Orange’s most historic precincts could become even more significant if plans to establish a war memorial at the site take off.
Orange councillor Reg Kidd said the corner of Anson and Byng streets plays an important part in Orange’s history especially as part of the town’s war efforts.
He believes a war memorial should be established in the centre of the roundabout, either by relocating the Boer War memorial from Robertson Park or with a new structure such as a statue commemorating the Light Horse Brigade.
“Perhaps there’s some way of emphasising just how important this corner has been to the civic life of Orange,” he said.
“The Boer War memorial has got four lights on it that used to be gas and are now electric, we could move it up to make the corner well lit.
“It will be something that will recognise the role the community has played in a number of conflicts ... right through to Afghanistan and the Falklands [War].”
With the nearby Ex-Services’ Club, historic Holy Trinity Church with a tower dedicated to servicemen and women, the town hall, Memorial Hall and lone pine, the precinct has an important role in Orange’s war history.
“The town hall was where Billy Hughes the prime minister of Australia addressed people for the war effort,” Cr Kidd said.
He said photos from the time show a number of light horse men in the audience.
Cr Kidd said the town’s Boer War memorial was controversial from the beginning with debate over how it should look, its location, and which names should be included.
Originally the sandstone lamp post was located at the intersection of Summer and Anson streets before it was relocated to Robertson Park on the corner of Lords Place and Summer Street after it was hit by a lorry in the late 1920s.
Later it was moved to the northern end of the park where it still stands, after a move from council to relocate it near the cenotaph in the 1990s failed.
“It’s down the end of the park where people don’t go,” he said.
“The Boer War got a bit lost but it was probably the first time Australia and New Zealand fought together.”
clare.colley@ruralpress.com