Jugiong War Memorial

 On Friday while on our way to another of my husbands medical appointments in Canberra we made a detour and stopped at Jugiong so I could visit the Jugiong General Cemetery where my great great great Grandfather James Henderson is buried (post to come about this soon).  We had not stopped there on our last visit to Jugiong (see here) as my husband was in too much pain to do so. After deciding to grab something to eat and drink first, we parked near the Jugiong rest area to have our brunch, which was delicious again from the Long Track Pantry.  I walked over afterwards to have a quick look at the Sergeant Edmund Parry memorial and take some photographs and noticed the plaques on the back of the white pillars that make up the Jugiong War Memorial.  I had never previously stopped to look at it and was surprised to see the names of my Grandfathers brothers and other relatives listed there. Once I got home and had a good look at all of the names on these plaques, so many more names from my research of our family jumped out at me and I will be doing some follow up posts about them in the near future.  On the day I was just surprised to see my great Uncles names there and was thinking about them and my memories of them.  My Nan, one day when I was a teenager, had pulled out a number of old tins of family photographs that she had which included numerous photographs of my great Uncles in their military uniforms and talked about them and the war years while she was showing us the family photographs. Unfortunately I don’t know where the photographs ended up after her death but I remember soaking up the information like a sponge on the day as she wasn’t always forthcoming about family history; I just wish I had of asked more questions at the time!  My grandfather was the only son not to enlist in World War Two as he had health issues that prevented him from doing so.  My great Uncles all looked very dapper in their uniforms and you just knew that there were interesting stories behind each of the photographs.  So I knew they had enlisted in World War Two but was totally unaware of their service being recorded in Jugiong in this way!  Apparently the World War One and World War Two plaques were added to the memorial on ANZAC Day 2014 (see here, here and here for more information).  My Mother and other family members were also surprised and trips to Jugiong to look at the memorial are being planned by a number of them in the near future. 

Jugiong War Memorial with my Stevens Great Uncles listed, along with numerous other relatives.

Jugiong War Memorial

Jugiong War Memorial