Cumnock Memorial Gates and Park

Located in Central West New South Wales, the village of Cumnock has a unique combined War Memorial Gates and Park.

The first Cumnock commemoration was a Roll of Honour Board to honour the servicemen and women who served in WW1. It was erected in front of the Amaroo Shire Chambers on 15 January 1917. The Amaroo Shire Hall was opened on Empire Day 24 May 1912 and ceased functioning as a Shire Hall in December 1950 when Molong Shire Council came into existence. 

The establishment of a War Memorial Park, with Memorial Gates and a Returned Soldiers League (RSL) Hall in Cumnock, was resolved by members of the Cumnock & Yeoval RSL sub-branch in May 1945.

Mr Aubrey Reynolds, a Captain in the Australian Light Horse and Camel Regiments during WW1, was the first to propose a memorial of practical value to the community.  This idea was supported and expanded by Mr Keith Blaxland, then President of the RSL sub-branch, and Mr George Black, a proprietor of Black Bros General Store in Cumnock. Plans were drawn up, land in the centre of Cumnock was obtained or donated, and money for the project was raised by the RSL, the community and a loan supported by the Amaroo Shire Council.

Work on the Memorial Hall began in 1948 and was completed three and a half years later. The Cumnock RSL War Memorial Gates and Hall were opened 28 August 1954 by Sir John Norcott, Governor of NSW and the Amaroo Shire President, Councillor Sylvanus Reynolds.

The War Memorial Gates were donated by Mr & Mrs Aubrey Reynolds in memory of their son, Pilot Officer William Bowd Reynolds, RAAF, who was KIA on 8 March 1945. Brass plaques commemorating those who served in the Second Boer War, WW1, WW2 and the Vietnam War are attached to the cement posts of the Memorial Gates.

The War Memorial Park has been established over the years since 1948 and presently includes not only the Memorial Gates and RSL Hall (also utilised as the Cumnock Village Preschool) but also a CWA Hall, a Community Centre and squash courts, two tennis courts, a lawn bowling club, a sports oval, a swimming pool, a children's playground, a sun dial and time capsule monument and memorial trees. The park area and buildings are maintained by the Cabonne Shire Council, various community organisations and the Cumnock & District Progress Association Inc.

Cumnock has a War Memorials website with information about the War Memorial Park and Gates and provides the names of veterans listed on the honour plaques. Two Cumnock historians, Val McKenzie and Dianne Strahan, are researching, writing and adding profiles to the Boer War, WW1 & WW2 sites as an ongoing project for the Cumnock & District Progress Association Inc.

The website is: www.cumnocknswmemorials.com