Someone had to do it, the morning after 231 Japanese prisoners of war were killed escaping from the Cowra POW camp in August 1944.
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Someone had to drive the ambulance to pick up the dead and wounded POWs.
One of those people, as it happened, was long-time Cootamundra resident, Edythe Hamilton, who died in 2005 at the age of 95, but who was posted to Cowra by the Army during WWII.
Having joined the Australian Women's Army Corps at the age of 28, somewhat older than most AWAC members, she was an ambulance driver at the Cowra POW camp.
She was summoned by the Camp Commander the morning after the breakout, and told she would be the "mortician's mate", charged with going out into the field to retrieve dead and wounded.
At least, this is the way it is told by Yvonne Forsyth, one of the founders of the Cootamundra Heritage Centre, who was a close friend of Edythe and knew her as "the loveliest lady you'd meet in a day's march".
"She was such a lovely girl, she didn't ever marry but could have married a dozen times - she played piano, was a talented mechanic, loved mothering people loved gardens, flowers, animals and children," Mrs Forsyth said.
"For many years she was seamstress at Cootamundra District Hospital, keeping the linen in perfect order, as one would have expected of her - she was well known for being something of a perfectionist."
All this is a prelude to the fact that one of Edythe's prize possessions - a beautifully-inlaid wooden sewing case given to her for her 21st birthday - will be on display at the Cootamundra Heritage Centre this weekend.
The sewing case's contents will be shown to best advantage in display cabinets given to the centre recently by Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council.
The Heritage Centre opened its doors on August 18 2001, and has been staffed by volunteers ever since, incorporating the Cootamundra Visitors Centre and performing a great service in promoting Cootamundra to visitors as well as displaying items from our history.
To mark its birthday this weekend it will have six wedding dresses from different eras on display, as well as Edythe's sewing case, beautifully inlaid with kookaburra designs.
The centre was started by Beverley Dwyer, who worked with the council, and others including Yvonne Forsyth, with a grant of $6000 from a fund marking the federation centenary.
After getting the grant, they looked for premises and were fortunate to obtain the current premises, formerly a railway dormitory.
The volunteers are keen on a new visitors centre being built close by in or near the old railway tennis courts.