2015 Twenty Cent Australia Remembers - Coo-ee March (20c) Uncirculated Australian Decimal Coin

The morning of 10 October 1915, saw 26 young men leave their hometown of Gilgandra, central west of New South Wales, in a recruiting march effort to join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). This gesture spoke for a nation that wished so emphatically to contribute to Commonwealth efforts in the First World War, which was being fought across the globe.

The Coo-ees as they became known had increased in number to 263 by the time they had covered the 320 miles to arrive in Sydney and enlist, their youthful enthusiasm encouraging many men to answer the call from the Dardanelles along the way.

News spread quickly and subsequent snowball marches started soon after all over Australia, the Coo-ees were joined in history by the Kookaburras, Kurrajongs and Boomerangs to name just a few.