About 130 residents gathered at Carrington Park, Blayney, on Wednesday, March 13, for a Boer War Memorial rededication ceremony.

During the ceremony, a plaque was unveiled revealing the names of 121 soldiers and two nurses, Emily Hoadley and Janet Toshack who all came from the Blayney area.

Among them were eight servicemen who died either in action or as a result of the war from fever or wounds or injuries.

Those servicemen who died were Hector N Black, George H Clark, David R Crichton, Richard Inch, Edmund Lane, Rudolph M Milham, Edward Sams and Joseph H Starr.

The Boer War, also known as the Second Boer War, Anglo-Boer War and South African War took place from October 1899 until May 1902.

In 1902, the Blayney community decided to build a memorial after Hector Black died aged 19 from enteric fever, also known as typhoid.

Soon afterwards the community was informed David Ross Crichton of Moorilda also died of enteric fever.

Blayney Shire Local and Family History Group president Iris Dorsett spoke at the unveiling in Carrington Park.

"First and foremost we honour the 123 service personnel that served in the Boer War. It is them, today is truly about," Ms Dorsett said.

"As a byproduct of today's ceremony we see the Blayney Shire Local and Family History Group finally conclude a long overdue major works project by way of restoring the Boer War Memorial."

Ms Dorsett said it was important to remember those who served and the Boer War should not be forgotten and acknowledged the 25-year commitment of Rhonda Jones to the project.

"The world would be a different place if it wasn't for the service personnel that went to represent, whether it was the Empire, Australia, whatever, and we may not have the freedoms and the privileges that we are lucky enough to encounter today. she said.

"They've set our community up for a wonderful future and every day that we live here we should be celebrating that.

"We certainly shouldn't celebrate war but we should be celebrating the people, we should be honouring and recognising their efforts in protecting us.

"When we commemorate our Anzacs we certainly should be commemorating all of our service personnel."

In 1907 the memorial, consisting of a lamp post with attacked drinking troughs for animals was installed at the intersection of Adelaide and Church streets.

The lamps were run on Argon gas.

In 1918 the memorial was relocated to the footpath outside what is now known as The Cottage and IronBark Cafe in Adelaide Street.

In the 1930s it was relocated again to Church Street.

However, due to road construction the memorial was moved next to the Blayney RSL Hall in 1976 however, the water troughs and lights were not reinstalled.

In 1999, 100 years after the start of the Boer War members of the Blayney Shire Local and Family History Group discussed researching those who left the district to fight in the war.

Bill and Rose Toomer from Millthorpe conducted the original research and highlighted about 20 names.

Group members Rhonda Jones and Jeannie Lister also travelled to Canberra to physically research and copy documents.

As a result of their research a book titled Dear Mother was published by the history group in 2002 and included names and profiles of all Boer War service personnel identified from the research. It also included copies of letters home.

Funds from the sale of the book were put aside to help pay for future restoration of the memorial and it was also suggested that it be relocated to Carrington Park.

No further work occurred in the next 16 years due to personal setbacks. However, the funds remained in the bank and in 2018 when a new committee was formed under the leadership of project manager Iris Dorsett with other members including Rhonda Jones, Kathy Brennan and Helen Dent.

The original water troughs and other pieces of the memorial were rediscovered and work was due to begin in February 2020, however COVID hit delaying the project.

In 2022, Blayney Shire Council issued a $10,000 grant for the project and work resumed in 2023.

The memorial was placed at its new "forever" home in Carrington Park. A plaque was also installed displaying the names of the 121 soldiers and two nurses who were known to have served in the war.

The finished works were unveiled at the rededication ceremony on March 13, 2024.

The book Dear Mother has also been reprinted and is available at the Community Centre.

The new work was made possible by the Blayney Shire Local and Family History Group, Boer War Committee, Blayney Shire Council, Ian and Roxanne Reeks and staff from ICR Engineering who offered work free of charge, Mark Wilson and staff from Laser Electrical, Ben and Bec Crombie and staff from McMurtrie and Co, and Steve and Jordan Davis from Dubbo Powder Coating.