WHAT'S IN A NAME: 12 JANUARY 2019

Dr Ross Memorial Recreation Ground, Molong

To locals, it's just known as 'The Rec', to most visitors as 'The Molong Rec'.

But it actually carries a much grander full title: 'The Dr Ross Memorial Recreation Ground'.

So, who is Dr Ross?

According to The Australian Dictionary of Biography, Scottish-born Dr Andrew Hendry Ross (1829-1910) set up in practice in Molong in 1857. He was soon appointed district registrar for births, deaths and marriages and for much of the 1860s and 1870s was coroner, government medical adviser, medical officer and public vaccinator.

Ross gradually acquired ‘considerable property’ and identified with Molong’s residents, winning their trust by his skill and humanity.

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the new seat of Molong in 1880 and held it until 1904.

In 1895 Ross founded the Molong Argus but soon sold it.

In his 1894 electoral address he had advocated retrenchment, the establishment of a national bank, liberal mining laws, an elective Upper House and both income and absentee landowners’ taxes.

A prominent Freemason and a high knight templar of the Knights of Malta, Ross died aged 81 at his house in Albion Street, Surry Hills, on 29 January 1910 and was buried with Presbyterian rites in Waverley cemetery.

The Rec's front gates, in Edwatd St, are dedicated to the men of famous Coo-ee March, which camped on the ground in 1915.

The ground has long been the home of cricket and football in Molong, was recently adorned with a beautiful white picket fence and is now the venue of the highly successful Molonf Markets. Both the latter achievements are largely the work of the Molong Advancement Group (MAG).

NEXT WEEK: The village of Cudal.