Dubbo Photo News 05.11.2020

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PhotoNews Photo DUBBO

NOVEMBER 5-11, 2020 | LOCALLY OWNED & INDEPENDENT | FREE!

A COMMUNITY REMEMBERS

REGION HAS JOBS GALORE

By JOHN RYAN

“He was sent back with a couple of Japanese bullets still inside him SOMETIMES you have to go bush and a shoulder that didn’t function to feel the raw ANZAC legacy and properly, but they were so desperthere’s no better place in this reately short of men they must have gion than Eumungerie. thought he could pull a trigger.” The local hall is like a 1950’s Tragically, Mr Arnold was one time-capsule into rural Aussie life of 62 Australian soldiers killed at – when the Second World War was Jackson’s Airfield (Port Moresby still fresh in the minds of the naairstrip) on September 7, 1943, tion thanks to those five years of when the United States Army global blood-letting. Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber Lovingly maintained by the “Pride of the Cornhuskers” crashed community, the hall boasts dark on take-off into the massed men wood panelling and a stage which of the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion boasts the Union Jack next to the AIF. Australian flag, both flanking a The 11 US aircrew in the decades-old portrait of the Queen. Liberator were also killed. There are many local Mr MacKenzie said anothstories of sacrifice iner friend from Gilgandra, scribed on the local Alan McWhirter, was war memorial, but sitting on the step many, many more of his truck not long held in custody before the crash and through the mema mate asked him ories of locals such to come for a ride to as John MacKenzie. do a job, so he escaped The Custodian of the the devastation by a hair’s Eumungerie-Coboco Hall, breadth. Mr MacKenzie was too young to The smaller the community, the ship overseas in World War II but more impact these sorts of deaths believes he would’ve been on a have and judging by the village’s first name basis with almost all war memorial, the district has the young blokes from the broader seen plenty of shockwaves ripple district who were. through it as local sons have been The medals on his coat are killed in battle. worn in honour of his uncle Arnold That’s why those who remain at Darling, a Eumungerie farmer who Eumungerie say they put so much fought throughout the Middle East effort into ensuring the memories before being called back home in of such sacrifice will never be lost. defence of Australia. Pictured are Custodian of the “He was wounded at Kokoda Eumungerie-Coboco Hall John and came back home to recuperMacKenzie AFSM-OAM, Bill Brown, ate,” Mr MacKenzie told Dubbo John Brady and Chris Edwards. Photo News. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS/EMY LOU

11,000 AGAINST RIVER ST BRIDGE: Petition will force state to debate bridge By YVETTE AUBUSSON-FOLEY ORGANISERS of the Stop the River Street Bridge campaign have paved a pathway to parliament after collecting a significant 11,000 signatures. The signatures were formally handed over to NSW Shadow Minister for Industry and Trade, Western NSW, Rural Roads and Rural Affairs, Mick Veitch, at a ceremony at Wiradjuri Park, last Thursday, October 29. Petition Coordinator for the Stop the River St Bridge Coalition, Karina McLachlain, spoke during the Petition Handover Ceremony. “The reason that we started the petition was because many members of the public were angry and needed an avenue in which to redirect their anger into positive action,” she said.

“Also, many members of the public were still unaware of how unsuitable the location chosen for the new Newell Highway bridge was and how it would cause far more problems than it would solve. “We did not want people to wake the day after the new bridge opened, faced with worse traffic or to find the bridge inaccessible in a flood due its submerged approach roads, and think, ‘I wish I had taken more notice of this project when we still had a chance to stop it,’” Ms McLachlain said. The 13 speakers attending the petition handover included Livestock and Rural Bulk Carriers Association president Paul Pulver, Dubbo Regional Council mayor Ben Shields, as well as the shadow rural roads minister. “To all of those who spoke to-

day, your words aren’t lost,” Mr Veitch said. “For the life of me I don’t understand why the local member isn’t here in front of us. “Can I just say to Karina, more than 11,000 signatures, is a mighty, mighty effort and you should be quite proud of yourself and your volunteers, and the work you put in to achieve that.” Mr Veitch will take the petition to NSW Parliament to have it tabled in parliament for debate. “I’d say there’ll be a lot of you, me included, waiting to hear what (Member for Dubbo Dugald) Saunders has to say in that debate,” he said. Mr Saunders is on the record multiple times saying that he fully supports the River Street Bridge option.

Left to right, Livestock and Rural Bulk Carriers Association president Paul Pulver, NSW Shadow Minister Mick Veitch holding the Stop the River Street Bridge petition, petition coordinator Karina McLachlain, and Dubbo Regional Council mayor Ben Shields. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS/KEN SMITH

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