Cootamundra

5 Cootamundra was already playing a key role in the war effort, none more significant than sending off men and women to war, a number of whom never returned home. Navigators Maurice Kennedy ‘Bill’ Burnside (left) and Jack Bond in front of an Avro Anson. Australian War Memorial Cootamundra, NSW, Cartographic Company, Map, 1942. National Library of Australia. Around the district, the conflict was front of mind with local farmers supplying food and wool for fibre to the various Services and abroad. Around town Australian Military Forces (AMF) and Voluntary Defence Corp (VDC) recruits trained at the racecourse and showground while children helped build air raid shelters in their school grounds. Arguably the town’s best-known war role on the home front was hosting a RAAF Base for the No 1 Air Observers School (No 1 AOS) at the Cootamundra aerodrome. Less well known was the strategic role played by the big tanks located on the hillside opposite the historic flour mill and a stone’s throw away from the railway line. Red Cross members at the Easter Camp Cootamundra April 1943. National Archives of Australia ‘Mortar training’ - 18th Battalion VDC, Easter Camp, Cootamundra April 1943. National Archives of Australia