By STEVE GRAY
THE centenary of the Gallipoli landings in 2015 is an opportunity to commemorate the Dungarees recruitment march from Warwick to Brisbane, also in 1915, Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott said.
On 16 November 1915, 28 men left Warwick and marched through Allora, Clifton, Greenmount, Cambooya, Toowoomba, Helidon, Gatton, Laidley, Rosewood, Ipswich and Oxley.
The 270-kilometre (160 miles) march ended in Brisbane with 125 recruits.
Mr Scott, a former minister for veterans’ affairs and now Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, urged local community groups to get behind the centenary of the march.
While each electorate has an allowance of $125,000 to commemorate the founding of the Anzac tradition, Mr Scott’s share will be sorely stretched over his huge electorate.
He urged the community to seek other avenues of commemoration for the Dungarees’ march.
“This would have to rank as a high priority because of the historic nature of the march which commenced in Warwick,” he said.
“Maybe there can be a re-enactment, maybe school students can get involved, maybe essays can be written about it.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to engage with the community and remind us all of the huge sacrifice that was made by rural Australians.”
Mr Scott said he has already received applications to share his allowance for the centenary commemorations.
A committee will be established to allocate the $125,000 for the electorate of Maranoa to remember 1915.
Australia provided 330,000 volunteer soldiers out of a population of just five million to the European war, 60,000 of whom never returned. Another 125,00 came back maimed, gassed or mentally debilitated.
