Rodney Stevens

When Greg Towner began searching for information about two of his great uncles, Maclean pioneers Claude and Dugie Swanberg, he didn’t realise the rabbit hole the process would open which led him to search for photos of the 69 locals killed in World War One.

After countless hours of research, Mr Towner discovered the information he was searching for plus so much more he decided to document his findings as a record of history and to educate and inform locals of the Clarence Valley’s links to the Great War.

“I self-published a book on them in 2020 and then I got interested in the rest of the World War One soldiers listed on the Maclean Cenotaph,” he said.

“The book is available in the Yamba and Maclean museums, and it’s called ‘Do you remember them?”

Mr Towner said ‘Do you remember them’ features three or four pages of biographical information on each of the 69 soldiers listed on the Maclean Cenotaph, but when the book was published, he initially only had photos of 40 of the local soldiers.

“After publishing ‘Do you remember them’ a photo of another fellow, Sandy Mackay turned up, so I put out a second edition of the book in 2021 featuring that photo,” he said.

“Then, just by chance, a photograph of a young Cedric Gardiner turned up following meetings I attended in Sydney with the Fromelles Association.

“So, I sent them the information I had on Cedric Gardiner, who was the only solider from Maclean who was killed at Fromelles, whose body is missing somewhere in the area of the Pheasant Wood cemetery near Fromelles.”

The next edition of Scene Magazine will feature a story about World War One and Cedric Gardiner, who died aged just 19 in the Battle of Fromelles on July 19, 1916.

That brought the total of soldiers with photos listed on the Maclean Cenotaph to 42 and gave Mr Towner hope that more photos of local diggers may surface.

“I think it would be good to have photographs of each soldier, a photograph really helps you remember that soldier, that person, along with their biography,” he said.

“As we say on Anzac Day ‘we will remember them’ but often it’s a bit of lip service, I feel, unless we’re doing something to try and remember each individual.”

There were five soldiers listed on the Maclean Cenotaph that Mr Towner, who is Geoff ‘Boots’ Towner’s cousin and brother of Maclean identity Doug, couldn’t conclusively identify, C. Breybrook, D. Stuart, F. Mackay, H. Finch and W.R. Chandler.

So, his quest continues to try to find photos of 27 soldiers listed on the Cenotaph for which no photo exists.

The soldiers without photos are C. Breybrook, H. (Hector Horace) Burns, W. (William Henry – Billie) Bowles, T.A.(Theo Albert) Cramp, W.R. Chandler, J. (James) Cuthbert, J.E. (James Edward) Duncan, F. (Frederick William) Davis, H.J. (Horace James) Dean, H. Finch, E.P. (Ernest Phillip) Gard, A.J.B. (John B. Auburn) Gilbert, P. (Patrick) Harrington, C.W. (Clarence William – Clarrie) Jones, A.F. (Arthur Frederick) Johnson, F. Mackay, P.J. (Patrick Joseph) O’Driscoll, J. (James) O’Neill, J.H. (Henry James) Oswin, W.T. (William Thomas) Rayner, F. (Frank) Rowles, D. Stuart, J. (John) Eady, J. (John) Shaw, D. (Samuel Percy) Starr, H. (Henry) Thompson, J. (John) Wyatt.

Anyone with photographs of any of the above listed soldiers, or information on where a photograph might be located, is asked to contact Mr Towner at gregtowner@optusnet.com.au .