Rappville Soldiers' First World War Memorial Avenue

About

This memorial avenue was planted in honour of those who served in the First World War. It is located along Nandabah Street in the small village of Rappville, in northern NSW.  Work on the memorial was underway by late 1919, with site inspections being planned around October. A ball was scheduled for 26 January 1920 to raise funds for the project, and the "promoters [were] hopeful that substantial support" would be shown by the guests (Casino and Kyogle Courier and North Coast Advertiser, 11 October 1919; 24 January 1920).  The trees were planted, and tree guards installed, some time between 1920 and 1923, as the Tomki Shire Council asked for them to be pruned in July 1923. The engineer was instructed to arrange for the work and to erect a fence once the guards were removed. The Richmond Valley Heritage listing for the avenue states, "eighteen trees were planted as a memorial to the 18 men of the district most of whom made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War ... A photograph taken in 1923 shows them with picket tree guards. It is believed that each tree had a white enamel plaque with the name of the soldier in black writing." The avenue was maintained and added to in 1937, when a flame tree was planted in memory of Private E. J. Olive, who died in a logging accident a few months after returning from the war (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 January 1937).  By 2004, the Richmond Valley Heritage Study noted the avenue consisted of 15 trees, including 14 camphor laurels, with one containing a strangler fig and a flame tree. The Rappville Services Memorial had also been installed along the roadside, to provide a site for commemorative services held by the community and local school. Individual plaques were also positioned among the trees.  A major bushfire in October 2019 destroyed three of the trees, as well as the Rappville Hall and its three honour rolls. The rolls are listed separately on the NSW War Memorials Register as the Rappville and District Great War Roll of Honour (Destroyed), Wyan School and District First World War Roll of Honour (Destroyed), and Rappville Second World War Roll of Honour (Destroyed).  Team Rubicon Australia (TRA), now known as Disaster Relief Australia, undertook restoration work in the district immediately after the fire. On Remembrance Day, 11 November 2019, three replacement trees were planted in a ceremony organised by volunteers from TRA, which included the Mayor, locals, and school children (Disaster Relief Australia website - Operation Bugden, 2020).