Delungra Anzac Park and Memorial Gates

About

Delungra's Anzac Park is located at the corner of Macintyre and Railway Streets. It is a well-maitained community space, which is also used for commemorative services. The park features two war memorials, bench seating, trees and landscaping, and playground equipment.   Memorial gates The largest of the two memorials is the decorative gateway, which was built for the 2015 Centenary of ANZAC commemorations. It consists of a metal arch, supported by stone-block columns, with a stone-block wall on the left and right sides. Between the columns is a set of metal gates, featuring the emblem of the Australian Army. The walls are decorated differently on the front and back (northern) sides. On the front of both is a colourful mural depicting a field of poppies, surrounding the slouch hats worn by Australian and New Zealand soldiers in the First World War. The left wall contains the Australian hat and the right wall has the New Zealand version. The mural was created by artist Lindsay Peacock of nearby Elsmore, NSW (The Inverell Times, 23 April 2015). The backs of both walls feature honour rolls, printed in blue and black on white panels, which are attached to the stonework. The back of the Australian wall is decorated with the Coat of arms of NSW in full colour. Below this are five rolls of those who served in the war from several small communities in the Delungra district in northern NSW, including Koolona (also spelt Koloona), Little Plain and Mt Russell, Myall Creek, Graman, and Delungra. The names listed from Koolona, Myall Creek, and Graman were sourced from existing memorials (refer to the 'Linked memorials' list below). The Myall Creek roll includes the First and Second World War and the Graman roll also includes those who served in the Malayan Emergency and Vietnam. The back of the New Zealand wall is dedicated to the New Zealand Paparua Returned and Services' Association. It features their logo in black and the Coat of arms of New Zealand in full colour. It also contains five honour rolls from those listed on the Prebbleton, Islington Freezing Works, Hornby School, Templeton, and Halswell war memorials, which are all located in New Zealand.  The gates were dedicated on 25 April 2015, at the same time as the upgrade to the park. Directly behind them is a concrete footpath leading to the second memorial on site, the Delungra Second World War, Malaysia and Vietnam War Memorial. Upgrading the park The 2015 redevelopment of the park was the result of a successful collaboration between the Delungra community, Inverell Shire Council, and the NSW Government. The Delungra District Development Committee received a grant from the Community Building Partnership Fund to proceed with the project in time for the 2015 Centenary of ANZAC commemorations. The works undertaken were reported in the Inverell Times on 5 February 2015. In developing and redesigning the park, the committee approached the New Zealand Embassy to seek details of communities similar to Delungra. The embassy supplied the services records of the New Zealanders as listed on the gates.  The final element of the upgrade commenced in March 2018, when the Lions Club of Inverell began construction of the pedestrian access in Railway Street (The Inverell Times, 5 March 2018).