THE COO-EES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144850, 30 November 1915, Page 5

THE COO-EES.

GILGANDRA MEN IN SYDNEY. A GREAT WELCOME. SYDNEY. Nov. 13. Well, they’re in. . . . Them 320-mile march is over. The Gilgandra recruits —“Hitcheus l Own”—have arrived. It will be one of our remembered days, this mid-November day of 1916. on which tho “snowball army” from Gilgandra marched into Sydney—bound for tho Dardanelles. This was a triumphal procession, if ever there was one. They were but a few score hardy, sun-browned men of the west, and their manners wore somewhat rough and uncouth, and they didn’t march exactly as the Grenadiers would march; but their entry into the city was a triumph. They wore blue dungarees which didn’t always lit them, and they were somewhat travel-stained and weary after their live weeks’ march —somewliat slouchy, in fact; but the city never gave a more enthusiastic welcome to any body ■of men than it gave to these 263 men from the country.

Tims had the little army grown since it started out from Gilgandra on October 10 twenty-five strong. Ten moro men from the little western town, set in a district where big hearts are, joined the original twenty-five on the way; and from Dubbo, M ongarbnii, Geurte, Wellington, Stuart Town, Molong, Orange, Ulayney, Bathurst, Yctholmc, Wallcrnwang, Lilhgow, and the towns along the mountains, and. indeed, ali the way down to Sydney, other batches joined in, and were supplied with dungarees and white hats—and the purple badges with the silver lettcrinj;, “Gilgandra Coo-ecs —Hitchens’ Own, with which the contingent set out. They would have looked better in military uniform, no doubt, but that doe.sn I matter; the man’s the thing!—“tho Men of the March,” as the GovernorGeneral called them at Lawson on daythroe hundred 'and twenty miles as the railway goes; hut tho march along tho road was really more than that. On an average the men marched about 12 miles a dav, hut on one day they covered 20 miles. On Sundays they spoiled; and at Lithgow they rested Cor one dav. All the rest was £Otid marching. 'They were of all ages and hI sizes. Some of them had never been out of thoir own district before, and they never had an uninteresting dav. From Wongarbon to Orango—one might say to Bathurst —they marched through perfect crops of wheat. A hundred miles of waving golden grain. Later canto the contrast. Wallerawang past, tho marching men camo into tho “dry country.” It was so dry and so hot on tho Blue Mountains that bush fires wore raging in many places. On Frilay of last week the men walked through one; at Springwond on Monday they helped to put ono out.

INCIDENTS ON THE WAY

Ti e march was full of incident. As long ago as May last Captain Hitchens —ho is captain’ of tho Gilgandra Rifle Club —conceived the idea of this marching from the country to tho city ; and ho did not only think of a march from Gilgandra, but of a series of marches from different parts of tho Still*; at the same time, all of them converging on Sydney. But tho military authorities woro lukewarm Laodiceans; they gave tho idea no encouragement. ’Then a paragraph got into tho papers. Tho press approved; tho people applauded; and Gilgandra suddenly achieved undreamt-of fame. The Gilgandra route march was organised; others are to follow. And later, after the harvest. Captain Hitchens, whoso son is already nt the war, proposes to organise another march from the western wheat fields. Everywhere along the route enthusiastic ’ people assembled to wish tho men “Good luck," and incidentally to provide them with refreshments. Money, too. During the march, between £4OO and £SOO was handed over in cash to Captain Hitchens to provide comforts for his merry men. Along the mountain road peoplo even handed cheques, with a good wish for the men “a speedy victory and a safe return.” In al2 miles march one day £l7 was received in this way. At Marrickville* yesterday morning £22 was handed over. It was so at almost every- town all the way from Gilgandra D( jj, merely receptions and breakfasts and dinners, but hard cash. There was a tramp out west—“humping his bluer.” Ho threw it down and joined tho Gilgandra contingent. “Know anything of soldiering?’ they asked him. “Know anything, said ho. '•Wait.” Ho untied his swag, and out of it came some medals. “Know anything 'of soldiering! I did a hit m South Africa, anyway, an’ I didn't suffer from Mauseritis or Pompom debility—not tho Gilgandra men "roped him in.” and he’s Back to the Army again, sir' There was something pathetic, and something grand also, about his remark the next day: “I was ‘out’ yesterday, but I’tn a man to-day. And there was another tramp, who throw down his swag near Bathurst, and joined the boys who carry the banner with the words, “First stop, Berlin!” _ , _ Then, between Penrith and Parramatta, the last of tho Macgregors was picked up—the last of the Macgregor bovs of Colyton. Four brothers are already at tho war; a fifth left Gilgandra with the contingent; the sixth has now joined in. , , , A father and son marched from out west to the city. Two brothers marched together, and a third follows after the ages, and all sizes, and all trades —farmers, shopmen, harbors, blacksmiths, mechanics, a horsebreakor, a mounted trooper, a journalist. And with them two hoys of 16 years, mounted on bicycles, acting as dispatch riders, and riding forth and hack. But the boys are returning to their Gilgandra home.

THE MARCH FROM ASHFIELD. Yesterday’s march began at Ashfield. The contingent loft the western suburb about 263 strong, but there are others now to be sworn in—men who joined the little army yesterday. V eteran soldiers, too, long past tho days of active service, took up the stop here and there along tho route, and marched proudly alongside tho Gilgandra. boys. “It makes a man feel young again,” said one of them. “I’ve al«WKiecjL.tarned down nma tir

I’m going to offer myself again toThey came down Constitution Road with a swing, to the music of the band. They passed through Dulwich Hill and Marrickville and Eumore, 300 of the Army Service men who are in training at tlio Warren marching with _ them thus far. At a picture theatre m Enmore the men were served with refreshments, and addressed bythe At-torney-General, Mr. Hall. Then on All Sydney seemed to he turned out to welcome the marchers; and at places the crush was extraordinary, while there was not a building but had its balconies and windows crowded. I t was a strange and unforgettable sight. And there were wonderful moments in the march. One of these was when the Gilgandra bovs suddenly began to sing, “Onward, Christian Soldiers. It was a moving, thrilling spectacle. When the march was at an end—when the men and their baggage wagons had passed down George Street, ini s Martin Place, and along Castlereagh, Hunter and Macquarie Streets into the Domain, where Mr. Carrei and, Mr. Wade briefly welcomed them—someone said to, Sergeant-Major Lee, the chief recruiting speaker of Me coij; tingent; “I guess you rc glad its orei. “No,” he replied, “I d like to start on another one to-morrow. Stevenson has written somewhere. “It is hotter to travel than to arrive _ And these Gilgandra men “ctualb seemed to lie sorry their long tick had como to an cud.