AFTER 12 months of painstaking research and community dedication, a book detailing the history of some of Collector’s Anzac diggers is complete.
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The book, entitled ‘Collector ANZACS: A tribute to our town and district’s contribution to World War 1’ contains an overview of the war and the period after when soldiers returned.
It also outlines in great detail all the service of Collector diggers from the various families in the village, including the Sheridans, Grangers, Drews and Poidevins.
“One member of the Drew family, Henry Drew and his wife Florence still live in the village, and Henry has been a stalwart in the Collector community for most of his life,” researcher and member of the Collector and District Historical Association, Frank Ross said.
“We didn’t have a clue about many of the men who had served in the war until we came across a lot of them from our research in articles in the Goulburn Evening Penny Post from 100 years ago.
“Out of a population of more than 340 in the district at the time, 44 Collector men went to war, and 13 were killed, with many of them also scattering elsewhere after the war.
“Many of them left the village because they were suffering from the rigours of war or there were better job prospects in either Goulburn or Sydney.”
A cenotaph was constructed in the village in 1919/1920 from local granite, which was officially unveiled on January 31, 1920.
CDHA President Ann Hegyi says the project will continue, with the next focus on World War 2 and even the role Collector’s women played in keeping the village going after all the men went to war.
The Collector and District Historical Association has been together for about five years and contains approximately 20 members.
“In the past we used to just produce calendars every year for Anzac Day, but this year we had so much information collected that we decided to publish this book,” Ms Hegyi said.
“We must thank our treasurer Madeleine McDonald who helped with the design and to Kelly Aitken who did the illustration for the book.
“Also the students from Collector Public School deserve a special mention, as they were responsible for most of the research on our diggers.
“Credit must also go to our marketing and souvenir person Zoe Dougall, who produced some tea towels and stubby holders for the book, to stonemason Damien Jenkins, who completed the restoration work on the memorial, and to Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s heritage consultant Jennifer Lambert-Tracey.
“I must also thank Bull Ant Design of Marrickville for the book’s graphic design, and to Impress Printers of Fyshwick for the printing.”
The CDHA were given a grant through the Commonwealth Department of Veterans Affairs Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program with help from Federal Member for Hume, Angus Taylor for the restoration of the memorial and for the book.
They were also given some funding from the NSW Office of Veterans Affairs Community War Memorials Fund for the restoration of the memorial.
The CDHA were impressed with the numbers who turned up for the village’s Anzac Day Dawn Service last Saturday.
“We had about 140 people turn up to the ceremony, which is a record crowd from recent years,” Ms Hegyi said.