The Sheepyard Pub is at 1 ANZAC Parade and has an active role in the mining community and provids a meeting place for the community. A theme that runs within the pub and the community is respect for our ex service men and women. Visiting ex service people are invited to sign their names on whiteboards, which are displayed throughout the pub along with armed service and Australian flags. The Memorial Committee along with the Walgett RSL has constructed a War Memorial honouring those serving in all wars. Together with various items from various conflicts that Australia has been involved in, the background feature is a Lone Pine seedling (now a tree) from Gallipoli.
Amongst the shanties, old caravans and piles of mullock you will find the beautiful Sheepyard and Community War Memorial which was built in 2002. This cache is placed within the Memorial Park with permission from members of the Board. The owner of a nearby Lease who maintains another cache I have in the area has also agreed to act as maintenance person for this cache. The parking area and grounds within the fenced area are safe to walk around.
In March 2015, the ABC Western Plains heard about what they called "A gem in the opal fields: Sheepyard War Memorial" and went in search of a story.
They had trouble finding someone to talk to but eventually found Norman Jones. The report they provided went something like:
When you want to learn about the Sheepyard opal fields war memorial in western NSW, he is the man to talk to.
Norman Jones said "I was a Vietnam veteran, my father was a Second World War veteran and my grandfather was a World War One veteran,". "We've had a serious history in wars my family. We haven't missed one since before the Boer war".
You can't find Sheepyard on an electronic map, but each year over 500 people attend the Anzac day service and people often visit the memorial. "This years alone we've filled up one complete tourist book at the memorial," Norman said. "It's full of names of people who have gone through and visited, something like ten thousand people this year". The memorial has a stone cenotaph, a lone pine, three flag poles and some military monuments, but it was only built in 2002.
He was asked what did the community do before then?
His reply was: "We held our service in the local pub,". "The publican at the time got sick and he said, 'I want you and the boys to think of another place to put the war memorial because if I fall of my perch the pub will be a private place'". "So a group of three veterans and a miner sat down, spoke about where we were going to put it and decided to put it at the dam,".
Norman Jones spends some time every day at the Sheepyard war memorial. "I clean up, move things around and generally make a nuisance of myself," he said. If you want to visit the Sheepyard Opal Fields War Memorial, Norman says all you need to do is heading into the tourist information centre and they will point the way.
Access to the Museum can be arranged to groups by contacting the staff at the Sheepyards Pub or the tourist information centre. Depending on the size (usually a minimum of 4 people) they can arrange a tour with some notice. So if you are staying in the area, it is worth booking a tour a day or so before and better if it can be included in one of the many pre arranged coach tours to the area. Even if you only visit the Memorial, it is interesting and rewarding.
The cache is a 1L Sistema container attached to the structure so it wont float away if it floods. The Mud maps to the area are no longer free so I have reproduced one and attached it as photos to this page.
There are a lot of youtube interviews, I think this is one of the better ones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVCezKBTTgc#t=304.713333
Enjoy your visit.
A word of warning before heading into the area. It is a working mine area and as such, be very careful about walking around / through the mining areas as open shafts and mining operations can be dangerous and also, it can be viewed as trespassing. And under no circumstances dig or pickup material from the mining area without permission of the mine owner/operator. Taking from someone’s claim, or ‘ratting’, is not taken kindly and is akin to stealing.