Opening of a Memorial Plaque at Tea Gardens Tea Gardens, Hawks Nest by NOTA - April 7, 2015 Descendants of known Great War ANZACS from Tea Gardens Hawks Nest are invited to the opening of a memorial plaque. The unveiling will take place at ANZAC Park Tea Gardens on Friday 24 April at 11am. Research for the memorial began with plaque of 22 names hanging at Peter Sinclair Gardens commemorating local men who served in the Great War. A committed team of researchers from the Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Family History Group and the Myall Coast Historical Society with the assistance of the Tea Gardens RSL sub-branch have spent countless hours researching the 22 names on the plaque. “This has involved the searching of their War Service Records, local records, district newspapers from 1914 onwards, the viewing of numerous photographs, maps and publications and family histories in order to compile the best profile available of each man, some copious, some sparse.” Coordinator of the commemoration Norm Webber said. Mr Webber said from the outset it was obvious that the Plaque did not contain the names of all those local Men who served and further research of a number of Men from the whole area have revealed that a further eight as having enlisted or returned to this area during the period 1914-1920. “We recognise that some may have slipped through our net in spite of our best investigations but 100 years have passed and there is just not enough good information to cover everything,” he said. To honour these identified men, six of who gave their lives, and as part of the Centenary celebrations the memorial plaque has been created. “As an important part of that ceremony, the descendants of those 30 men are invited to attend,” he said. In groups the descendants will lay sprigs of rosemary provided at the memorial in remembrance. Those to be remembered are: BENNETT, Walter Lionel, BREWER, Ira BURROWS, Harold DAVIES, John DAVIES, William DIVES, Roland John ENGEL, Frederick HARRIS, Johan Peter HOLBERT, Edward Amele HOLBERT, Hugh Fitz HOLBERT, Walter James HONOR, Henry HOUGH, Alexander Sylvester HOUGH, Esmond Bourke HOUGH, William LAMBOURNE, George Clarence Chapman LYALL, Jack MARLER, Claude Leslie [KIA] MATTSON, Fradolph MAYBURY, Stanley [Died in Service] MAYERS, William PARISH, Herbert Henry [KIA] PORTER, Patrick RIPLEY, Lylie SMITH, Clyde WILLIAMS, Roy Howard [KIA] WORTH, James Edward McCRAE, Duncan Christopher [DOW] PETERIE, Ernest Coldstream [KIA] THURLOW, Hugh Clopton Godfrey Families attending are requested to notify the Secretary, Tea Gardens Branch of the RSL, PO Box 44, Hawks Nest, 2324 NSW and advise of their connection to those to be honoured and their numbers attending. The families are request to be at ANZAC Park at 1030am on the 24th April, 2015 and to make themselves known to the RSL Sub-Branch Registrar. It must again be realised that many of those who returned left no permanent footprints in the area and only the given names can be published.
