RECENTLY the council was successful in receiving funding through the Public Library Infrastructure Grants program to improve Community History infrastructure at Speers Point Library, a valuable service that assists our community with local and family history.
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It was also this very section that received an anonymous bag of donations, including two World War I diaries that had been missing for more than six years.
Library staff traced the diaries back to the Dunbar family and worked meticulously on the digitisation and transcription of the diaries belonging to World War I soldier John Jackson Dunbar, Sergeant Acting Warrant Officer 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance.
Staff also tracked down the Dunbar family for the diaries' return.
Last week I was honoured to meet the family of this courageous man and reunite Mrs Dunbar with the long-lost war diaries.
Thank you to the family for allowing us to hold onto the diaries so they could be made publicly available through the Community History website.
This year Australia will commemorate the Anzac Centenary, marking 100 years since our nation's involvement in World War I.
About 1100 people who lived in or had an association with the Lake Macquarie area enlisted in World War I.
■ The digitised Dunbar diaries are available at history.lakemac.com.au.
