A CENTURY on, the tight knit community of Hay continues to go to great lengths to ensure the memory of the Anzac lives on.
The small town had one of the highest enlistment rates in Australia with almost 700 people signing up during the First World War - 133 of whom died in conflict.
The Hay War Memorial High School was established in 1923 as a living war memorial and two projects were unveiled on Anzac Day to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign.
The first, a series of 16 two metre high pull-up banners formed part of an exhibition called After Anzac, said visual arts teacher Lanelle Lee Chin.
"Each banner tells the story of current Hay families' ancestors who fought in the war," said local historian and teacher Mary Lou Gardam.
"Their stories are told through objects, images and documents, many of which are being shared for the first time."
More than 100 current Hay residents had been photographed for the banners honouring their ancestors.
"Some are the children or nieces and nephews of the soldiers, while others have lived on the same land and passed the names down through generations," Ms Lou Gardam said.
A second project, a ceramic mural, was officially unveiled, and inclu- ded the school motto, "for so much, what shall we repay?"
The artwork was created by more than 300 students from five schools across the district and assisted by as many as 80 community members.
The mural, which was 18 square me-tres in size and weighed 300 kilograms, represented Hay's First World War ser-vice and its growth as a modern town.
"The individual pieces, whether they are poppies, sheep on the Hay Plains or soldiers and nurses on the battlefields have all been handmade and painted by school students and members of the community," said Ms Lee Chin, who worked with ceramics teachers from Ceramics in Schools, Sydney, to guide the project.
The community has also planned a commemorative tour to Gallipoli and the Western Front next January.
The group will include teenagers and grandparents and everybody in between.
It will take them to sites where Hay soldiers fought and died, with the graves of those killed during battle documented by Ms Lou Gardam, who is co-ordinating the tour group.
The Hay War Memorial High School Museum is open to the public during school hours.
Simone Norrie
Journalist for The Land at Wagga Wagga.
Journalist for The Land at Wagga Wagga.
