The project is being coordinated by president of the museum and affiliate member of the RSL Sub-branch Bev Holland with assistance from volunteer members of the Cobargo District Museum.

The project has been made possible by a 12-month grant funded by the Commonwealth Government's Saluting their Service Commemorative Grants Program, which is an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs.

They are documenting the histories of these service personnel, how these stories shaped the district, and the roles they played in the community after their return.

Ms Holland said they are mostly concerned with piecing together the histories of the individuals who returned after the war in order to make that information available to both new and long-term residents of the district.

"We want to give them back their place in history," said Ms Holland whose own father served in the navy and whose grandfather served at Gallipoli.

Originally from Victoria, Ms Holland's family moved to Cobargo in the 1970s and she has a profound respect for preserving the history of the region.

"You have to have an understanding of your past in order to protect or plan into your future and so we thought it was time to look into our past and get that foundation stone of the past and acknowledge those who formed this community," said Ms Holland.

Although the work is tedious and sometimes leaves more questions unanswered than answered, it paints a picture of the region after the World Wars, as well as the wars in Korea, Vietnam and later Afghanistan.

She and her team of fellow volunteers are also doing research in order to amend some of the town's records which were incorrect due to inaccurate or incomplete records at the time.

The Cobargo RSL Memorial which honours around 260 names from the wars was also finalised over a number of years and so some names do not match up with formal historical records currently being researched by the museum.

It also comes at a time when a number of records collected by the RSL Sub-branch over the years were lost during the Black Summer bushfires when a number of homes in the district burnt down.

Many records were stored in the homes of the presidents over the years and so it remains unknown just how much of the information was lost. However this project will be vital to collect and restore some of that information for future generations.

In order to piece together all of the information and create a more accurate depiction of these veterans, they "scratch around" and search through war records which shows professions and next of kin information as well newspaper and library archives.

They are creating a database of records and photographs which will help to store and properly preserve this information for public interest.

Their research will be a significant public heritage source and will be accessibly via the museum or the RSL Sub-branch.

Dave who lives in Cobargo has an background in computer programming and so has been working to create the program set-up and developing its pathways.

Although programming takes patience, he perseveres as a volunteer because he believes in the importance of record keeping and an creating an accurate database.

"I feel like it's something worth doing and it's something that is worth doing properly to try and help the RSL Sub-branch in the long run," he said.

Ms Holland described the project as, "constantly evolving" as leads often come up throughout the process. Currently she is conducting interviews with family members of returned veterans to try and get a picture of their family and community life once they returned.

So far, some findings paint a sad picture of a number returned service people suffering with conditions we would now refer to as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. There are also records of suicidality and life-long impacts from injuries affecting the way these people lived their lives.

There are also more positive accounts of education opportunities provided by the government, such as a local school teacher who went to college in London for further studies on a scholarship.

There are stories of service people who became more immersed in the local community and those that stepped into community leadership roles.

Another part of their research involves documenting the history of the Cobargo Memorial Hall which they are still trying to collect and locate accurate information on.

The Cobargo District Museum are calling for members of the town to share family stories with their team or alternatively share photographs which will be scanned into digital copies for the museum archives.

Any assistance with piecing together this history would be very much appreciated, so anyone within the Cobargo district who has information is encouraged to get in contact with Bev Holland on 0408280024 or email cobargodm@outlook.com.