THE Nambucca Valley has the distinction of having the most comprehensive published record detailing those from the district who served in the Armed Forces during the First World War.

This record is in the form of a book known as Nambucca ANZACS.

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The man responsible for the research, compilation and ultimately the publishing of the book is Mr Trevor Lynch.

Originally from Macksville and now living in Canberra, Trevor Lynch has recently concluded a 43 year career in the Australian Regular Army and is still serving in the Army in a part-time capacity.

Nambucca ANZACS is the end product of twelve years of detailed research and hard work while still working full time in the Army.

Trevor was able to access letters written by soldiers from this district to their families and utilise the excellent resources from the Macksville library such as newspapers of the day that had been saved to microfiche.

Since the book was published in 2013 it has served as an excellent resource for community members who wanted information on their relatives that had served in the ‘Great War’ and an educational resource for schools.

“It has been very satisfying to be told by a number of people that, particularly around ANZAC Day, they have been able to hone in on specific details of their family member that served,” Trevor Lynch told News Of The Area.

“When I was writing the book I wanted to give readers a feel for the person they were reading about so I included as much information as I could about their lives and cross referenced if they had a relative serving to give families some detail.”

In exciting news for the district, Trevor Lynch has revealed to News Of The Area that he is strongly considering launching into work on a new book intended to document those from the Nambucca Valley who served in the Second World War.

Trevor admits there are significant challenges in producing this volume as more than double the amount of people were in uniform during World War II as compared with World War I.

Trevor has been in contact with the National Archives of Australia, who advised that they were digitizing the World War II service records of Australian Military personnel as they had done for World War I records, thus making the investigation somewhat more achievable and will form the basis for the research.

“Not only do we have the Militia and the Army of the time to consider but we also have the Navy and the Airforce, noting that the Airforce did not exist in World War I,” Trevor added.

Trevor Lynch points out that he would use a more refined process this time, based on what he learned during the production of Nambucca ANZACS.

Trevor has not put a time-line on when he would start and finish the project, however if Nambucca ANZACS is anything to go by the book will be an invaluable resource for families and students and will a stand-out document of the rich history of the Nambucca Valley and those from the district who served in World War II.

By Mick BIRTLES