AFTER 20 years Aboriginal researcher, Noeline Briggs-Smith OAM, has secured funding to place plaques on the last three unmarked graves in the indigenous section of the Moree cemetery.
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Ms Briggs-Smith said there were over 200 unmarked graves in Moree of local, Aboriginal people who served at war and later died.
“It all started in 1994 when I saw how many graves in the indigenous section were unnamed so I started researching and together with the Lions Club president at the time, Robert Bartel, we started putting monuments on the soldiers’ graves,” she said.
During NAIDOC Week this year, Ms Briggs-Smith travelled to the State Library to give a powerpoint presentation detailing the past 20 years of local Aboriginal servicemen and women who were laid to rest without recognition.
It was there Ms Briggs-Smith touched the hearts of many and spread the word about the remaining three soldiers.
“A couple of months later I was contacted by a relative of (Walter) ‘Bluey’ Duncan, Alison Howlett, who said through her business in Singleton she would fund the last three. She descends from the Wenham family of Terry Hie Hie,” Ms Briggs-Smith said.
After 20 years the feeling or relief-and also disbelief-was felt by Ms Briggs-Smith.
“I couldn’t believe those men and women were unknown for 20 years.
“They went to war, suffered physically and emotionally and then were forgotten about.
“ That was the whole reason I started this project so none of those brave, indigenous people were forgotten,” she said.
“Now, the plaques are on order and I’ve been assured they’ll be placed before Remembrance Day. The last three men were James Weldon, Joseph Alexander ‘Joe’ Nean and trooper Walter Herbert ‘Bluey’ Duncan.”
James Weldon was the son of James Weldon and Jean Green. He was born at Bourke in 1913 and died at Moree in 1972.
He was a private NX41 209 2/1 in the Australian Guard Batalion in WWII. He served in Gaza and was discharged in 1946.
Joseph Alexander ‘Joe’ Nean who was born in Breeza in 1904 and passed away at Moree in 1966, was the son of Harry Nean and Charlotte Lyons. He was a beloved father of three and husband.
Mr Nean was an AIF private in WWII’s Unit 2/2 and he served in the Middle East in 1941.
Walter Herbert ‘Bluey’ Duncan, born in Terry Hie Hie in 1889 died at Moree in 1937, and was the son of William Duncan and Harriet Wenham.
He was a devoted husband, father of two and brother to 11.
He was a trooper in WWI in the first L/horse reinforcement in Egypt. He enlisted in 1917 and returned home in 1919.
There will be a ceremony held at the cemetery on Remembrance Day at 9am.
“There will be families of the fallen coming from all over the country to attend the ceremony.
“I will be mailing personal invites to the Lion’s members who originally helped me with this project. The whole community is invited to pay their respects not only to the soldiers but to all indigenous people buried within the cemetery,” she said.