Get the insider's guide to Gallipoli to Armistice Memorial

2018-11-01

If you’d like to learn some special secrets about the Walk With the Anzacs Gallipoli to Armistice Memorial, join a tour of the site in Maryborough’s Queens Park on Armistice Day.

Queens Park Military Trail Project Committee vice president Greig Bolderrow will host four, one-hour tours of the memorial at 8.15am, 9.30am, 3pm and 4.15pm on Sunday, November 11.

He said the memorial contained a treasure trove of information and features but people might miss some details, such as the Rising Sun Badge cut into the pavement, unless they knew where to look.

“People can come down and we’ll run through the memorial so when they’ve got friends or relatives visiting, they’ve got some special little facts to share with them,” Mr Bolderrow said.

“There are a lot of stories that we want the people of Maryborough and the Fraser Coast to know.

“They can learn the little nuances of the memorial and then share their newfound knowledge with their friends and relatives.”

Mr Bolderrow, who is also chairman of Fraser Coast Tourism & Events, said the timing of the tours had been specifically set so they would not interfere with the centenary of Armistice commemoration services on the day.

He also encouraged people to visit the Recovering the Past photographic exhibition at Gatakers Artspace, which was part of the Armistice remembrance, before the display closed on November 25.

Mr Bolderrow described the work of London-based photographer Ian Alderman as unbelievable because it combined photos of members of the Belgian armed forces bomb disposal team with historic images of Australian Diggers who served on the Western Front.

He said farmers in West Flanders were still finding unexploded ammunition today when they ploughed their fields.

 “Bring a box of tissues and read the stories – that’s what gets you,” Mr Bolderrow said.

Another part of the commemoration of the centenary of Armistice is a visit by citizens of the small town of Vignacourt in northern France which was used as an Allied staging point, casualty clearing station and recreation area for troops during World War I.

The Vignacourt visitors will tour Maryborough’s Gallipoli to Armistice Memorial on November 7 and be guests of the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery on November 9 to view the Australian War Memorial Collection Remember Me: The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt before the exhibition closes on November 11.

ENDS

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