Gilgandra

Distinguished and Famous people from Gilgandra

🤝 Bill Hitchen

Bill Hitchen worked as a plumber and windmill installer in Gilgandra and helped organise the 1915 Coo-ee recruitment march to Sydney. The march gathered recruits as it travelled, turning a small local departure into a widely publicised wartime undertaking. Hitchen’s community standing included service as captain of the rifle club. He enlisted in his forties but died in England in 1916. His former home became associated with the preservation of the Coo-ee story. The local connection lies in the tradesman and organiser behind the famous march, as well as in the march’s starting point.