memory of sacrifice

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Mr Page said his grand father was particularly proud of his brother, Harold, who began the war as a private and finished it ranked as a major.

He was wounded three times and capture once by the Germans, but escaped.

Mr Page said his brother’s legacy was one fo the reasons Sir

Earle was behind the cenotaph project.

He said Sir Earle Page returned after the war determined to get into politics and get to work on projects, like the Nymboida Hydro Electric Power Station.

“He became the Member for Cowper and did everything he could to clear the way for the cenotaph to go ahead,” he said.

After the speeches, the Bishop of Grafton the Rev Murray Harvey, Chaplain 41t Battalion Kevin Booth and Canon Camellia Flanagan dedicated the memorial, scattering Holy Water onto the monuments from sprigs of rosemary.

After the service 41st Battalion historian Private Graeme Bray revealed impatience at the delays in getting the cenotaph build led to some subversive action. He said that after the Remembrance Day ceremony in 1920, some former soldiers had listened to all the fine speeches, then attended a lunch, where they may have had a few beers.

“The second in command of 41st battalion at the time, Major Ferguson was upset at the council not doing anything and made a speech that go everyone going,” Priv Bray said.

The men hauled a captured German artillery field gun from where it stood in Bacon St to the council chamber and aimed it at the front doors as a symbolic gesture.

“I don’t think it did much good,” Priv Bray said. “It took another three years before anything happened and ironically in that time, the ringleader of the protest, Major Ferguson died.

“So he never got to see the cenotaph finished.”

Mr Benfield said he was pleased with the success of this dedication, but said it would not be the last.

“We have the centenary of the South Grafton Cenotaph next year,” he said.