Soldiers from across the Penrith area who answered the call to fight in the Great War will be honoured as part of a moving artwork in the Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park.
Minister for Veterans Affairs David Elliott and Member for Penrith Stuart Ayres today took a soil sample from the Penrith City Memory Park.
Soil samples from more than 1,600 sites across NSW where young soldiers enlisted to fight are being collected as part of the Anzac Memorial Centenary Soil Collection project. All soil samples will be placed in the renovated Hall of Service with the name of the town next to them.
Mr Elliott said collecting the soil from the broad range of sites across the state is a reminder of the great sacrifices made by men across all of our communities in the Great War.
“A century on, we honour these men by taking a sample of soil and placing it in the Hall of Service at the refurbished Anzac Memorial so that it can be appreciated and commemorated by generations to come,” he said.
Mr Ayres said, “It is great to have Minister Elliott here in the electorate to acknowledge Penrith’s important contribution to Australia’s proud ANZAC legacy.
“Penrith gave a huge number of people to the war effort and this important contribution will be recognised in the collection of soil from the Penrith City Memory Park.”
The Anzac Memorial Centenary Project Soil Collection is part of the NSW Government’s upgrade of the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park during the Centenary of Anzac. The Anzac Memorial upgrade will be complete in late 2018.
