Although the leadership of the 1RAR Association moved to Townsville a few years ago, we kept the WW2 Battalion Association going out of respect to those wonderful old diggers. There are only a small few left in their 90’s and no longer participate in ANZAC Day services.

Last year, being 100 years since the end of the WW1 seemed a time to move on and so we conducted the last “Pozieres “service at the Saint Columba Church.

There are items in the church which are held in trust but belong to the 1^st Battalion WW1 and have been handed down through the years and are now the responsibility of the 1 RAR Association. They are the 1^st Battalion Pozieres Cross (bought back by the 1^st Battalion in 1919), two framed battalion flags (which were carried by the 1^st battalion for the last two years of the war) and two rolls of honour (1^st and 1 RAR).

The church is happy to leave these items in place for the time being. They will contact us when there is a change.

Eventually, the cross will be presented to the Infantry Corps Museum at Singleton when it is moved from the church. The framed flags will go to the 1/19^th Battalion HQ at Orange with the rolls. And the “First Battalion Association” will cease to exist by 30^th June 2019.