Gardian Property point

They were a series of sudden, brutal deaths of young Mackay people that devastated their families and friends and shook this town to the core when they were killed.
Mackay-born people will mostly know about the deaths, and the names of some or all of those involved, but many others will be unaware of the tragic loss of the lives of these young local people.
This town needs to talk more about these youngsters, some of them really just kids, and remember what happened to them.
Fortunately, a special effort to remember them has created extra attention and a renewed focus on who they were and how they died.
There isn’t room here to name all the Mackay kids who died in the events I am talking about, but they include David Pratt, who was killed when he was 21, Eric Perry, who died around the same time when he was 19, Keith McGinn, who was 20, Joseph Holack, who was 19, and young Keith Hamilton, who was 20 when he was killed.
Many Mackay locals will know about these boys and how they died but if you’re new to town you might not know about them … although you might recognise their names.
Some other names of the dead from the events I am talking about are: Charles Penn, Harold Holland, Robert Kippen, William Griffin, Keith Simpson, Albert Hucker and Robert Lamb.
These are just some of the names of young Mackay blokes who died in World War I and World War II and whose surnames are recorded forever more as street names dotted around the inner suburbs of this city.
Earlier this year I started noticing poppies emblazoned on many of the street signs in the suburb I live in, West Mackay.
I knew the street I live in was named after a local digger who died in World War 1, aged 22, so when I saw the poppy on our new street sign I realised it was a council measure to respectfully recognise the streets named after Mackay people who died at war.
As you drive around my suburb, as well as South, East and North Mackay and Marian, there is now a constant reminder of the locals who sacrificed their lives for us.
When you drive into a street with a poppy-emblazoned street sign, you know what it means … you’re on hallowed ground and you are indebted to the Mackay person it is named after.
A drive out of my street takes me into Field Street and towards the city through Webberley Street, and then through Keith Hamilton, McGinn, Mogford, Donaldson, Edmonds and Smith Streets onto Bridge Road. It’s poppies and gratitude all the way.
A couple of weeks ago, on the 11th of the 11th at 11am, a group of colleagues and I bowed our heads in a minute’s silence to remember Australians who died at war.
We were in our office in the Dalrymple building in Victoria St, which was built in 1918 … the same year that Robert Donaldson, Thomas Grendon, James Johnson and Rex Sneyd died fighting to protect the life we now have the good fortune to lead.
That minute’s silence is to honour all lives lost in the fight for freedom and, while no one life is more significant than another, the poppies on Mackay street signs do make the local sacrifice hit home. It did for me that day.
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*The council website is well worth a visit to learn more about the brave names behind the signs.

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