The massive effort to commemorate one of the Riverina’s most significant moments during World War One, has been turned into a book.
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Three years ago, on September 5 2015, 88 ‘recruits’ marched out of Wagga to re-enact the 1915 Kangaroo March.
The reenactment was timed to coincide with the Centenary of ANZAC. Thousands of locals and visitors saw them off and supported them along the way.
The Kangaroo March Committee was comprised of citizens who lived adjacent to the route of the Kangaroo Recruiting March from Wagga to Campbelltown.
Committee member and Kangaroo March writer and singer Angela Williamson has pieced together a limited, hard cover book, which contains hundreds of photographs, maps and text.
“There were nine recruitment marches in NSW,” she said.
“The Kangaroo March, known as the Wagga Wagga-Yass route march, was the longest.
“It totalled 350 miles and went through all the towns, cities and villages along the way.”
The reenactment stopped at Campbellton, Mrs Williamson said.
“The original men stopped taking on recruits in Campbelltown, but continued onto Sydney,” she said.
“They stayed as a rural contingent because back then Campbelltown was a regional town in its own right.”
The entire event ran for 36 days and Mrs Williamson joked it was “bigger than the Olympics”.
“We encouraged people to join us for however long they could and there were just over 23 people who did the whole march,” she said.
“The committee had funds left over after, which was why we were able to do the book.”
Mrs Williamson said it was a huge organising effort for everyone involved.
“My husband, David, was in charge of Risk, Safety and Logistics,” she said.
“He did a lot of work to get this off the ground. I also lost about five or six kilograms from exhaustion.
“To write the book, however, has been a cathartic process.”
There are only 210 copies of the book, which comes with a CD of poems, songs, readings and an audio reflection of the Kangaroo March.
For those who would like to order a copy, please email kangaroomarch@gmail.com.
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