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G Compay 1st Regiment New South Wales Infantry, Wagga Wagga

Wagga Wagga is a town of 60,000 people in the Riverina District of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, and is currently the home of Kapooka Military Area and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base at Forest Hill. Wagga also has a long history of civilian military units, the first being G Company of the 1st Regiment New South Wales Infantry.

Parade of early militia units, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia, c1880: G Coy 1st Regiment NSW Infantry, Murrumbidgee Light Horse, Wagga Town Band.

The 1st Regiment NSW Infantry was founded in 1878 from an earlier militia unit, the 1st NSW Volunteer Rifles (also known as the Sydney Battalion). G Company (G Coy) was established in Wagga Wagga in 1885, under the command of Captain HB Fitzhardinge (a former mayor), 1st Lieutenant George Sheppard, and sixty volunteers.

In 1885 a contingent of G Coy volunteered as part of the NSW contingent of the Sudan War, however they did not see action as the war had finished before their arrival.

Joseph and Silvio (Siv) Palazzi, G Coy 1st Regiment NSW Infantry, c1899.

In 1899 the Australian states sent contingents of soldiers to fight with the British forces in the Boer War. Six members of G Coy were amongst the first volunteers, transferring to 1st NSW Mounted Rifles and departing on 17 January 1900 aboard the Southern Cross. From this group, Joseph Palazzi was killed in action at Palmeitfontein on 19 July 1900, and is remembered locally with a memorial in Collins Park, Wagga Wagga. Also killed was Charles Wilson, who died of wounds on 18 September 1901.

In total, 97 names appear on the War Memorial for having served in the Boer War in the Victory Memorial Gardens, Wagga Wagga, along with hundreds of other men throughout the Riverina district, many of whom came from the local militia units.