General News
10 March, 2026
NextGen’s ANZAC project
Maryborough Rotary NextGen plan to commemorate local military service by placing the Australian flag at veteran's graves this ANZAC Day.
A new club for young people in the Central Goldfields Shire has launched their first major project — commemorating service people by placing the Australian flag at their graves.
The Rotary NextGen Club hope to start a tradition that will last for years to come this ANZAC Day.
In collaboration with the Maryborough and Carisbrook cemetery trusts the community group hope to honour service people’s memory and sacrifice.
It’s an initiative led by NexGen’s Courtney Higgins after seeing similar projects done in other communities.
Considering the changing face of ANZAC Day locally, with the removal of the iconic white crosses, Ms Higgins said it was important to remember local veteran’s stories.
“The project aims to ensure every veteran’s service is acknowledged and remembered,” she said.
“I thought it would be a great idea for Maryborough to be a part of it.”
Already planning beyond this year Ms Higgins said that, in collaboration with the local RSL, she hopes to expand across the shire in 2027.
Her goals include getting local school children involved, other community groups such as men’s sheds, as well as introduce QR codes so families and visitors can learn more about an individual’s story and service history.
“I think any community building activity is really important,” she said.
The project also offers a new chance to learn more about local service, which Ms Higgins learned first hand, discovering new insights into her great grandfather.
“During WW1 he was sent to France and, when we were looking through his war records, he was court-martialled for breaking into a bakery and stealing a loaf of bread,” she said.
NextGen’s president Veronica Hutcheson had a similar experience learning about relatives she’d only known in pictures.
“I’d seen pictures of them in their uniform not realising they’d gone overseas to the Middle East and France until I was reading their transcripts,” she said.
“One grandfather went AWOL over in London for a couple of weeks and got docked pay and the other one used offensive language towards his superior and got his pay docked.”
It’s an opportunity to connect with a past Ms Higgins hopes to weave into the project in future.
“It just opens up another side of history of people you wouldn’t normally be privy to,” she said.
If anyone wants their family remembered in this way they must complete a consent form available at Rotary Club’s Facebook page, the Maryborough Regional Library, or at mbrotarynextgen@gmail.com
“It would be fantastic if as many people as possible could participate,” Ms Higgins said.
“Share it with as many people as you can and discuss it.”