Did you know that 80 Shoalhaven residents fought in the Boer War?
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Well, they did and a memorial in Nowra’s Rauch Park honours their efforts and sacrifices.
A service to mark Boer War Day will be held on Sunday, June 3 at 4 pm at Rauch Park Nowra and the public can attend.
Lieutenant Commander Jodie Turkenburg will give the address.
Australia, as part of the Brittish Empire, was dragged into the Boer War against the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, over the Empire's influence in South Africa.
It was fought between October 11, 1899, to May 31, 1902.
The late Keith Paterson’s book ‘South Africa The Volunteers War’ traces the local connection to the Boer War.
The book, which took Mr Paterson four years to complete, tells the stories of the boys from the Shoalhaven district in the South African war from 1899 to 1902.
Having learnt the history of the memorial, Mr Paterson then set about finding out more about the 80 Shoalhaven residents who fought in the war.
More than 45,000 British Empire troops were engaged in South Africa, including 12,000 from Australia in official contingents, while another 5,000 made their way to the war separately to join the South African regular units.
