Find them, remember them workshops

This November marks the Centenary of Armistice and Kurri Kurri Library is getting in early with their activities to host research workshops from 10am-12noon on 23 and 30 April 2018.

The workshops will be hosted by John Gillam and Yvonne Fletcher who are both popular local historians, researchers and authors.

John and Yvonne will encourage attendees to research the service history of our local WWI soldiers who may choose to use their own family members or a name from a local memorial.

Attendees will receive tuition in creating a soldier’s profile by sourcing information from the pages of the AIF Project, the files of the National Archives of Australia, the Australian War Memorial and Red Cross files.

John Gillam said he discovered that in July 1926, 30 crates of medals and recipient records from Sydney were returned to the Army Records Office Melbourne. The weight of this load was estimated at 2.5 tonnes.

Two years later the Sydney Morning Herald stated, "More than 73, 000 war service medals still await claimants at the Base Records Office of Victoria Barracks Sydney, although it is more than nine years since the war ended." A further 60, 000 were returned to storage in Victoria their rightful owners either ‘untraceable’ or unwilling to accept them.

Cessnock City Mayor, Councillor Bob Pynsent is encouraging locals to come along to these research workshops.

“There is potential to uncover unknown local service histories and even unclaimed service medals which would be a fantastic discovery.”

If you decide to come along, you won’t go home empty handed as you’ll be given a detailed handout to allow you to continue your research at home.

Both workshops are free to attend and you can book your place by calling Kurri Kurri Library on 4937 1638.

 3/28/2018