A Telarah woman and her sister stood together in silence when they shared a special remembrance ceremony at the Anzac Memorial Walk in Newcastle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The date was June 6 - the very day 100 years ago when their Anzac grandfather Percy John O’Brien was killed at Gallipoli.
Christine Barrett from Telarah and her sister Patricia said it was important to both of them to honour their grandfather’s memory.
Mrs Barrett has done extensive research – much of it through Maitland Mercury files – to uncover details about Mr O’Brien, who was born in Aberglasslyn.
Mrs Barrett has also travelled to Turkey, where she found her grandfather’s grave in the 4th Battalion Parade Ground Cemetery at Gallipoli.
But on June 6, the two sisters found his name on the panel at the Memorial Walk in Newcastle.
“It was very moving for both of us,” Mrs Barrett said.
“We just stood together and had a period of quiet reflection.
“We are proud of the legacy our grandfather left to us and we think it is our duty to remember him.”
Mr O’Brien was a labourer when he enlisted on September 5, 1914 at Randwick in Sydney.
“The cemetery where he is buried is very isolated and set on a steep incline,” Mrs Barrett said.
Mrs Barrett also found an old black and white photograph of her grandfather from which Bolwarra portrait artist David Oberdorf – a photographer with the Mercury for 22 years – painted a colour picture which both sisters value highly.
