Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This year marks 100 years since the brave soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the Anzacs, went ashore at Gallipoli, Turkey in 1915. One of the most significant events happening in Queensland this April to recognise the Centenary of Anzac is the re-enactment of a troop train journey that took place 100 years ago. The original steam train embarked from Winton in outback Queensland en route to Brisbane via Rockhampton. The train signed up World War I recruits from country towns at numerous stops along the way. The recruitment drive touted such signs as 'Don't wait until the Germans arrive here', referring to the enemy of the day. The 2015 troop train re-enactment will carry 225 passengers departing Winton on April 20, with overnight stops at Longreach, Emerald, Rockhampton and Maryborough. The train will arrive at Central Station in Brisbane on April 24, the eve of Brisbane's Anzac Day service. Accompanying the troop train will be military re-enactment groups from the Capricorn 9th Battalion Living History Unit, based in Rockhampton, and a light horse brigade. In Rockhampton, the Capricorn RSL sub-branch will host the travellers for dinner at the Frenchville Sports Club, with a World War I theme, on April 22.

The troop train project was initiated by my friend and colleague, Ken O'Dowd MP. The federal government has provided every electorate in Australia with a $125,000 funding pool to distribute for local Centenary of Anzac activities. The federal member for Flynn, myself in Capricornia and our fellow National Party colleagues, the member for Maranoa and the member for Wide Bay, have each contributed a minimum of $25,000 from our respective funds to allow this spectacular re-enactment journey to take place. In my vast electorate of Capricornia, I am delighted to inform the House, a total of 16 community projects, including the troop train, have been funded to mark the Centenary of Anzac. In Capricornia the funding includes: $7,500 to the Livingstone shire to install plaques on a memorial walkway in Emu Park's Centenary of Anzac commemorative precinct; $7,500 to the Livingstone shire for a memorial fountain as part of the Yeppoon Centenary of Anzac commemorative precinct; $2,500 to St Joseph's Primary School in Park Avenue in Rockhampton to create an Anzac memorial; $1,211 to the Keppel Sands State School P&C to establish an Anzac memorial at the school; $7,624 to St Joseph's School at Clermont for a Centenary of Anzac commemorative walkway; $16,124 to restore and relocate two World War I German artillery guns to the site of the John Leak Memorial on Rockhampton's riverbank; $3,167 to the Nebo RSL and Citizens' Auxiliary towards the restoration of existing honour boards and memorabilia at the Nebo Memorial Hall; $6,050 to the Nasho Combined Central RSL sub-branch to re-establish a World War I German Howitzer gun at Rockhampton's botanical gardens; $9,268 to the Central Queensland Family History Association towards the publication of a local history book titled The Great War: Stories from Home and Abroad; $7,675 to the Central Queensland Military Museum, Rockhampton, to create an interactive Centenary of Anzac display room; $5,973 to the Capricornia RSL and Rockhampton sub-branch for re-enacting original local World War I recruitment activities, including restaging a historic recruitment photograph on the same location as the original was taken 100 years ago in Rockhampton; $5,631 to the Capricornia RSL and Rockhampton sub-branch for banners and uniforms for the 9th Battalion Living History Unit for the Centenary of Anzac commemoration activities; $3,112 for a Clermont Historical Centre and Museum display called Anzac Heroes and Heroines; and $21,416 to the Sarina RSL sub-branch for a local history book titled More Than Just a Name, depicting the lives and service history of men and women from the Sarina region who served in World War I. These projects will serve as a respectful footnote in our local history to mark the significance of the Centenary of Anzac.