Bible at Springwood Library
On 16th September 2015 I visited Springwood Library to meet with the Local Studies Librarian John Merriman, to view the bible on which the five Springwood Cooees recruits were sworn in, which is part of the Blue Mountains City Library Local Studies Collection.
Bible at Springwood Library (Photograph: H. Thompson 16/9/2015)
Inscribed inside this small bible are the words: “This bible was used for swearing in recruits for Capt. Hitchen’s “Coo-ees” from Gilgandra, Springwood 8th Nov 1915”.
Inscription inside bible at Springwood Library (Photograph: H. Thompson 16/9/2015)
According to Shirley Evans & Pamela Smith in their book Remembrance : Springwood District Honor Roll 1914-1919, the men were sworn in at the ‘now demolished Springwood School of Arts’.[1]
Two photographs of the Coo-ees marching past the Springwood School of Arts building in 1915 can be seen on Blue Mountains Local Studies blog ‘’The Coo-ee March, 1915, “The biggest wash-up I ever heard of!” http://bmlocalstudies.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/coo-ee-march-1915-biggest-wash-up-i.html
This building, which was opened in 1913, was demolished in 1969, but the Foundation Stone still remains in the School of Arts Town Square in Springwood today.
[1] Evans, Shirley & Smith, Pamela, Remembrance : Springwood District Honor Roll 1914-1919, [Springwood] : Springwood Historians, 2008, p. 43.
1915 Coo-ee March 