"The Flat" DeniliquinPrint Page

The plaque commemorates the area known as "The Flat" and the indigenous families who lived at "The Flat" near Deniliquin. The plaque also celebrates the partnership between The Deniliquin Salvation Army and Deniliquin Rotary Club which was formed more than 60 years ago. 

Uncle Vince Ross (OF) first encountered The Salvation Army on a reserve called ‘The Flat’ near Deniliquin in southern NSW when he was a boy. It was to be a life-changing moment.

Nineteen Aboriginal families were living on the banks of the Edward River in the mid-1950s when the Salvos came along to offer assistance, and a special bond was formed. Not only did a young Vince see the love of Jesus in action, but he experienced a spiritual transformation himself. Then and now: Vince became a Salvationist at the age of 12 and began a lifelong association with The Salvation Army, culminating with being presented with the Order of the Founder, the movement’s highest honour, in 2020.

“The Salvation Army played a role in helping our people to settle humpies on the riverbank there. We had a great relationship with The Salvation Army from 1954 when Lieutenant Edith McKenzie and Lieutenant Joyce Douglass began serving the community. Then, in partnership with Rotary, we had a little hall built on a concrete slab,” shares Uncle Vince, a Madi Madi and Wemba Wemba man who now chairs The Salvation Army Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board.

That little hall, built in 1961, became the site of weekly Sunday school classes and numerous community activities, not to mention more than a few brass band concerts! A concrete slab is the only reminder of the hall, but to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its construction, a plaque has been unveiled on the same site, listing the 19 families who lived on The Flat.

Hundreds of ‘mob’ representing many of the original 19 families returned to The Flat on Saturday for the anniversary celebrations. Uncle Hewitt Whyman unveiled the Koorie flag, the Torres Strait Islander flag, the Rotary Club banner and The Salvation Army flag. “This is about Flat mob together then, together again,” he said.

Chief Secretary Colonel Winsome Merrett was present for the historic unveiling, along with Secretary for Mission Captain Stuart Glover, members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander team, Public Relations Secretary for NSW Major David Collinson, retired Lieutenant-Colonels Jan and Peter Laws, and South Barwon Corps Officer Major Clint Castley.
Deniliquin Pastoral Times (NSW), 12 April 2022.

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