E&OE
STARTS: 12:09PM
ENDS: 12:11PM
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, thank you, Robert (Flint President, Mutuma Hall Centenary Committee) and thank you to your hard-working committee and well done to Muttama. This hall was built because the people of this village, the people of this district, believed in something. They believed that there was a future for Muttama. They believed that the men they sent to war in the First World War, the Great War of 1914-18, deserved the respect, deserved the remembrance, and they’ve done that with this Memorial Hall, and they’ve done it because they believed in that flag as well. They believed in Australia. They believed in regional Australia, as you all do, and as we all should. This country has a really bright future and it’s only bright because of people like you who turn up today and life is decided by those people who turn up, and you’ve turned up in droves today. Well done to each and every one of you. And there’s so many young people here today, young people who will hear the stories of what Muttama meant to the families, to the relatives, to the pioneers. We’ve heard about Abb’s romantic dances here at Muttama Hall, fantastic! I never knew that, you know, that Abb (McAllister, Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council Mayor) was such a, sort of, you know, whizz on the dance floor, but we heard about that, and if you’ve got a story, share it with a young person because it’s those young people who will carry the stories, who will carry the traditions. If these walls could surely talk, what stories they would tell. This has been the scene of many Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, ANZAC Day ceremonies. This Hall has been the scene of many wakes and marriages and 21sts and balls and all sorts of things. It’s very quintessential Muttama, it is what country Australia is all about, and so are all you people today. Robert, well done to your hard-working committee, they’ve done a great job. You only have to look at the faces and the people who have turned up to commemorate, to celebrate all that is great about Muttama, all that is great about the past, but just as importantly, all that is fantastic about Muttama’s future. Thank you very much.