![Australia Day Award for Local Combined Committee [26 January 2016]](http://www.gretaheritagegroup.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Gathering-Place-Banner-01.jpg "Australia Day Award for Local Combined Committee [26 January 2016]")
Australia Day Award for Local Combined Committee [26 January 2016]
Official Opening of the WW1 Centenary of ANZAC Memorial Wall and Plaque and the Greta-Hansonville WW1 Honour Board
The Rural City of Wangaratta Community Event of the Year for 2016 was awarded to the Combined Greta Committee, made up of the Greta Heritage Group, Greta-Hansonville Hall Committee and the Greta Sporting Complex Committee. The announcement was made on Australia Day at the Ceremony in Wangaratta and was in recognition of the Official Opening of the WW1 Centenary of ANZAC Memorial Wall and Plaque and the Greta-Hansonville WW1 Honour Board. The Award was accepted on behalf of the Combined Committee by Adrian Younger and Noeleen Lloyd. Members of the Committee and descendants of the original ANZACS were on hand to witness the Award.
The below text was read to the Crowd:
On Sunday 18th October 2015, the Greta community staged a significant gathering of people, descendants and friends of their area to commemorate the sacrifices made by the soldiers and the families of the Greta-Hansonville district in the First World War. The destruction by fire, or loss in other ways, of commemorative Honour Boards of those who served in the war, has been rectified and the lives of the people involved was commemorated in this significant event last year. The destruction of the Hansonville Hall in the bushfire of 1952 not only meant the loss of the hall, but also the commemorative Honour Board for those district men who served in war. The re-creation of the honour board and memorial wall and plaque evolved as a project of the Greta Heritage Group.
The first stage of this project, a newly paved area with flagpoles and a commemorative rock and was officially launched on Australia Day last year. On 18th October 2015, close to 300 overseas, interstate and local citizens came together for the unveiling of the World War 1 Honour Board, commemorative plaque and wall.
The event involved an outdoor ceremony to officially open stage two of the gathering place and an indoor ceremony to unveil the Honour Board and cut the Remembrance Cake that specifically honoured the contribution of the district women and children to the war effort.
