The battered appearance though is not surprising, for it comes from a ten-decades-old pocket-sized notebook – a digger’s diary from World War I.

The little volume belonged to Frank Mongan, who found himself an army signaller at a battle whose name, Noreuil, became a byword for summer frivolity for future Albury generations.

However on April 15, 1917, Gunner Mongan had the Hun rather than fun on his mind as his diary tells in its entry for the fiercest day of fighting in the Battle of Noreuil.

“Germans attacked before dawn with a force of 6000 men on our right, breaking through between 2nd and 3rd Brigades,” he wrote.

“They captured Lagnicourt (2.6 kilometres from Noreuil) and 68 guns, all the 1st Division artillery, but did not have them more than half an hour.

“They only had time to damage five guns.

“Reinforced by 5th Brigade infantry we counter attacked at 5.30am.

“Our guns were dragged out in the open and did good work among the massed Huns.

“The situation for us seemed a bit uncertain for awhile, but once the Germans found they were being surrounded they surrendered in their hundreds.

“Of the 6 Battalions that came over less than one third got back.

“They left about 1000 dead on the field and rumour says we captured 1100 prisoners.

“Our casualties were light.

“We, 13th Battery, had six men wounded during the stunt.”

That unit, known as Albury’s Battery, had already undergone extensive trench warfare on the Western Front and would fight on until the Armstice on November 11, 1918.

But the pluckiness shown in repelling the Jerry at the village of Noreuil, near the Hindenburg Line, stood out for Albury’s fighters when they returned home.

Their pride helped guide Albury mayor Alf Waugh, who declared in 1919 that a patch of land on a bend of the Murray River would become Noreuil Park.

History buff Doug Hunter said Cr Waugh felt names such as Anzac or AIF “would become hackneyed and he wanted something purely Albury”.

“He asked the Albury Battery fellows what they wanted and they said ‘Noreuil”,” Mr Hunter said.

“I always found it a bit surprising they chose Noreuil, but obviously it made a huge impression on them.”

The French village also made an imprint on a member of the Rotary Club of Albury North who visited it last August.

Phil Rouvray admired the flying of the Australian ensign alongside the French and European Union flags at the entrance to the settlement.

“I thought that’s kind of special and then the cemetery was actually called the Australian Cemetery and most of the others on the Western Front were just named after the place that they were near,” he said.

With a population of just over 100, Noreuil is smaller than the average Thurgoona or Lavington subdvision.

“It was a Sunday morning, you could fire a gun down the main street and there wasn’t a cafe to go into,” Mr Rouvray recalled.

“There are very few signs of the war left, all the battlefield has been restored and it’s all farmland, it’s just a farm village.”

With that excursion in mind, Mr Rouvray suggested to his fellow Rotary Club members that the centenary of the Battle of Noreuil should not pass without a worthy commemoration.

He thought more acknowledgement of the battery’s deeds was needed in Noreuil Park, noting there was a storyboard reference close to the mooring point once used by the Cumberoona paddle steamer.

To that end, a plaque will be unveiled at 11am on Saturday in front of the River Deck Cafe.

Funded with $1500 from the Albury Council and $1000 from the Rotary Club of Albury North, the sign will display the names of 51 Noreuil warriors.

The railwaymen, shopkeepers, clerks and labourers who helped form the park will be honoured with national anthem renditions by Albury High students Leila-Rose Rogers (France) and Alesha McKinnon (Australia).

The names of Albury soldiers who fell at Noreuil will be read and The Last Post bugled by the Murray Conservatorium’s Tony Smith.

Albury mayor Kevin Mack applauded the acclaim for the men.

“It is a significant moment in Albury’s history in World War I and it’s something we should commemorate and Noreuil Park is a park created by the returning veterans from that war,” Cr Mack said.

“It is significant we mark the story behind it, because a lot of Albury people don’t know it.”

Army chaplain and Rotary Club of Albury North member Catie Inches-Ogden, who will emcee the plaque’s launch, said the monument would add meaning to the park.

“It gives shape to a place used on a daily basis and helps people understand some of their own heritage and the sacrifice people made, not just over in France, but here to build this park,” she said.

In the nearly 100 years since Noreuil Park was created it has been home to bathers, picnickers, a caravan park and canoe club.

On Australia Days it has filled the role of stage to hundreds of immigrants becoming citizens and reflective speeches.

“I think it’s the jewel in the crown of Albury,” Mr Rouvray said.

“It’s a beautiful open space, particularly on a really stinking hot day, to go down there and jump in the freezing water it really restores you.”

Frank Mongan, that man who along with his comrades helped ensure Noreuil was woven into Albury’s history, witnessed the park blossom, dying aged 84 in 1974.

His daughter Pam Graeber, who keeps her father’s diary in a box inside a cupboard at her Wodonga home, will be joined by her three sons and grandson at the unveiling.

She is rapt at the honouring of the battery.

“It’s just a peaceful place and it’s good to have a bit of a memorial,” Mrs Graeber said.

“You don’t want in 20 years time people not knowing anything about the battle and to think they gave the opportunity to name it after it, I think that’s lovely.”