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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-06-27 Daily Xml
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Cobdogla Soldiers Memorial Institute

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (17:35): It gives me great delight to inform the house that last Sunday I paid a visit to Cobdogla to attend the Cobdogla Soldiers Memorial Institute centenary. It was the 100-year anniversary, of course, of the opening of the Cobdogla Soldiers Memorial Institute. The institute was opened on 28 June 1924 by the Hon. James Jelley, Chief Secretary of the Labor Hill government at the time. His great-grand-niece Theresa Swiggs was there on the day to unveil the plaque rededicating the institute. We have to remember that it is an institute, it is not a hall; institutes often featured libraries, whereas halls did not.

The day opened with a moving memorial service, followed by the launch of the Snapshot of Cobdogla mural that was unveiled. The mural was 100 per cent funded by the Riverland Vintage and Classic Car Club as a gift to the town to say thank you. The mural features 24 photos in a film reel design showing the town's history through the ages, starting with the Cobdogla Homestead in 1840 and finishing with aerial images of the 2022 flood. Along the way, I did note that there were soldier settlement blocks, the historic Humphrey pump, traction engines, horticulture crops showing some of the varied crops drying and fresh fruits, the historic buildings up the main street, native animals and the flood plain. Of course, there were many vintage and classic cars and motorbikes to complement the moving mural.

The mural is broken up into coloured sections representing the Riverland's different seasons: orange for autumn, yellow for spring, green for summer, blue for the blue skies and white that typifies the fog and the rain through the winter months. It is all backed up with a gum tree watermark background, and it really is a credit to the Riverland Vintage and Classic Car Club. Ed Cottam, the president of the club, did a lot of that photography and did a great job.

The rest of the day continued with lunch, raffles, dancing, cake and classic car rides. I must say it was quite funny to see Theresa Swiggs going for a spin in vice-president James Copeland's Corvette. It is a pretty fast-looking car. I am not sure how fast he was going up the street, but it was a red blur and it was fast. It was a great typification of exactly what the day was all about. The 100-year-old 1920 Dodge Tourer would have been the same car that the minister would have travelled in to Cobdogla from the city to open the hall 100 years ago. The original drums were also on display from the institute's band, the Night Owls.

I acknowledge the organisers from the Riverland Vintage and Classic Car Club: Chris Matthews and her husband Jeff; vice-president James Copeland who, as I said, took Theresa for a spin in the Corvette; president Ed Cottam, who was not there but did some great work with the mural photography; and the MC and former president Warren May, who has been a part of the institute for many years and is very much a car enthusiast, as is his family. I also acknowledge Ron Kohler and the Barmera RSL, who organised the memorial service and the band, and Ron's wife, Leta, who played the Last Post. Catering was organised by Maxine Charity; I think Desiree May might have also had something to do with the food.

I am sure there were many other volunteers who played a great role. We saw the dance from Julie Hill, Bob Hodgson and Chris Sheer. Ian King designed some of the placemats, Vicki Dunhill provided knitted poppies for the memorial service and, of course, who else but Rosemary Gower would have cut the cake? Rosemary is a full-of-life local who is at every community event in that area. She cut the cake on behalf of the Copes family, who were involved in the institute in the early days.

I think it is a credit to the Cobdogla community. It is a credit to the Vintage and Classic Car Club. It is a great institution at Cobdogla. For anyone who is passing through Cobdogla, call in and have a look. We have the heritage steam museum, we have the classic car institute; there are many, many things to do in Cobdogla. It is worth a visit to Cobdogla.

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