The Cooee March : a special Anzac presentation in
the Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph has recently featured a twelve part presentation (published in issues from 31st March to 11th April 2015) prepared by Andrew Carswell and Warren Brown, based on their 12 day trek in the footsteps of the Coo-ee marchers from Gilgandra to Sydney in February this year, during which they unearthed some fascinating stories, and had some interesting experiences with the locals.
Andrew Carswell met with me on the 21st January and I spoke to him about our research on the 1915 Coo-ee march and the 263 individual Coo-ees. I talked about my blog cooeemarch1915.com, and showed him some entries, and told him I would send him some links to 1915 newspaper articles and some of my blog entries that might be of interest to his research, and suggested he might like to get in contact with some families of some of the Coo-ees, including Donald Stewart and Ernie May, which I am very pleased he was able to do.
The links below are to electronic versions of the articles. I am not sure how long the links will remain active.
I was very interested to read the article on Coo-ee Donald Stewart from Wellington, who became a prisoner of war following the Battle of Fromelles in France, and wrote letters home to a young woman he met when the Coo-ees were at Blayney, and who he was later to marry. I have transcribed several of his letters sent home from his family about his prisoner of war experiences on my blog that were published in the Wellington Times. It is amazing what treasure troves some families have on their Coo-ees.
I might just note that in the last article listed below which has the words “For when the guns fell silent and the boats returned to Sydney Harbour, only 222 Cooees walked down that gangway, leaving 41 fallen behind”, the figure of 41 of the 263 Coo-ees dying on active service during the First World War is based on this being the number that I gave him that we have found in our research on the Coo-ees (and that not all of the remaining 222 went overseas).
Meet the Cooee Marchers: Our Anzac heroes before they became legends by Andrew Carswell, The Daily Telegraph, March 31, 2015
Cooee March kisses from Eumungerie stand test of time by Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph, April 01, 2015
Anzac spirit alive and well in Wongarbon, 100 years after Cooee march by Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph, April 02, 2015
Brian’s vision keeps step with spirit of the Cooee Marchers by Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph, April 03, 2015
[No link available to ‘’River a relief after rigours of the road’’ by Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph, April 04, 2015 p. 41]
WWI digger’s love letters from the trenches to his one true love found decades after death by Andrew Carswell, The Sunday Telegraph, April 05, 2015 [online version of article below]
http://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-sunday-telegraph-sydney/20150405/282226599235979/TextView
Mud, blood and his one true love by Andrew Carswell, The Daily Telegraph, April 05, 2015
Sheds full of willing recruits by Andrew Carswell, The Daily Telegraph, April 06, 2015
The Cooee March: Let them eat cake … and so we tucked in by Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph, April 07, 2015
The Cooee March: Woolshed at Bathampton Estate offered troops shear relief by Andrew Carswell, The Daily Telegraph, April 08, 2015
The Cooee March: Following in the footsteps of our finest by Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph, April 09, 2015
The Cooee March: Hitchen family proud of warrior tradition by Andrew Carswell, The Daily Telegraph, April 10, 2015
http://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-daily-telegraph-sydney/20150411/282016145848164/TextView
Our long haul is over, theirs had just begun by Andrew Carswell, The Daily Telegraph, April 11, 2015
1915 Coo-ee March 
Thanks so much for this Helen. Have been collecting articles from the Daily Telegraph, but unfortunately on Good Friday the newspapers don’t make it over the mountains, so it was great to receive your advice.
Kind regards
Shirley
This great, thank you Helen, I missed a couple of these while I was away with Langleys Cooee Tribute Tour
Margo