Shire band’s visit to France a ‘trip of a life time’

As Narrabri commemorated Anzac day on Saturday, where for the first time in memory we were not able to pay tribute to the fallen together as a community, I thought it would be a good time to remind the Narrabri community of a piece of history.

Twenty years ago last week, 45 members of the Narrabri Shire Band were in France as part of a greater tour of England and France.

The band competed in two competitions in northern England and acquitted themselves well.

But it is the five extraordinary days over the Anzac period that we spent in France that I would like to tell you about.

Prior to us leaving Australia, and after extensive negotiations with the Australian and French Consulates, Narrabri Shire Band was granted the rare honour of being invited to participate in the ceremony of the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

In our shock at being bestowed such an honour, we invited the French consul General to Narrabri to say thank you, and to our delight – he said ‘yes’!

Some of the community will remember us collecting him at Narrabri airport in Peter Smith’s maroon Toyota Tarago and under police escort we drove him to Narrabri Rugby Club where the Blue Boars were playing Tamworth Pirates.

The French and Australian flags flew above the rugby club and Peter Wall sang ‘Le Marseillaise’. The consul general made a small but generous speech and reminded Narrabri that France was very aware of the sacrifices that small towns like Narrabri made in the Great War of 1914-18. He then wished both teams luck, and as France’s rugby team is blue, he would be supporting Narrabri in the rugby that day.

The crowd went wild!

Playing at the Arc de Triomphe was an incredible experience and we provided the music for the solemn ceremony that is conducted every night in Paris.

The local French war veterans were very taken with the fact that we were from Australia and the two youngest members of our band laid a wreath alongside the French veterans.

The old veterans were so gentle and kind to the young members of our band and they were very generous with their time.

A key part of the band’s trip to the battlefields of Northern France was to try and visit as many graves as possible of soldiers from Narrabri and surrounding shires who never came home.

Extensive research was conducted and we found many graves of local men.

The war cemeteries in France are dotted throughout the countryside and are invariably in the middle of wheat or canola fields which is appropriate given the many Australian farmers who are lying there.

I can still see the scene of 45 members of a brass band in full uniform marching solemnly up to the grave of a fallen Narrabri soldier, with the only noise being the single tap of the side drum and the cold wind blowing – it was certainly very emotional.

Upon reaching the soldier’s grave a member of the band would read out the soldier’s story, we would lay a single rose and we would play the last post.

We did this time and time again.

One of the many ceremonies we conducted was at the grave of a soldier called Walter Hourne from Gulargambone.

He was one of three mates (the other two men were Roy McGill and Ernest Owens) from that district who had all left Australia on the same day, and they all ended up dying on the same day in separate actions.

Such a sad story.

When we returned to Australia Walter Hournes’ nephew was sitting in the street in Gulargambone and when he was informed that we had tracked down his relative’s grave he was overcome with emotion and so grateful.

On Anzac Day itself we played at the war memorial at Villiers Brettoneux.

There was no official televised ceremony like there is today and the Narrabri Shire band conducted the ceremony along with the local school and village officials and the local military attaché .

Everyone is familiar with the story of the Victoria school in the village that was re-built with donations from Victorian school children and the famous “Do not forget Australia” sign that is emblazoned across the school’s courtyard, and above every blackboard in each class room.

Even as our bus crept through the village many of the locals came out waving at us knowing that we were from Australia.

A very humbling experience as we were all too aware that it was not us that had made the sacrifice.

It was truly a trip of a lifetime, and something that all who took part can look back on with great pride.

Denis Harvey, Narrabri Shire Band