Federal Member for Blaxland, Jason Clare MP, today thanked Bankstown Sports Club for donating $10,000 towards the 2013 Mateship Trek.
“Bankstown Sports Club is the heart and soul of our local community. Not much happens in our local area without the help of Bankstown Sports Club. I am so grateful they are helping me take young people from our local area to walk in the footsteps of our heroes,” Mr Clare said.
Mr Clare visited Bankstown Sports Club with the six young people from Western Sydney who will be travelling with him in two weeks time along the ‘Black Cat Track’ from Wau to Salamaua in Papua New Guinea.
The trek will commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the battle along the Black Cat Track.
This is the third Mateship Trek that Mr Clare has organised. In 2009 he took young people from Bankstown along the Kokoda Track, and in 2011 a group of local high school students retraced the footsteps of World War II Prisoners of War along the Sandakan Death March.
Mr Clare said the Trek will be a unique opportunity for young people to understand the importance of our military history.
“This trek is about walking in the footsteps of Australian Soldiers, honouring them, learning their stories and making a commitment to live a life worthy of the sacrifices they made for us,” Mr Clare said.
Media contact: Chris Zogopoulos 9790 2466
