One year ago on Thursday, 24-year-old Amit Rai drowned while swimming with his cousin and friends at the site.

Mr Rai had been visiting Albury and had only just arrived in the country from a refugee camp six months prior.

After his death, Mr Rai’s uncle, Chandra Rai, suggested the idea of creating a park bench dedicated in his nephew’s memory.

The wooden bench was unveiled on Saturday to a group of nearly 100 Bhutanese community members and representatives from Albury Council, Albury police, the Albury-Wodonga Ethnic Communities Council and the volunteer resource bureau.

Bhutanese Australian Community Support Group Albury-Wodonga chairman Tika Poudyel said Mr Rai was a loved young man who was born and raised in a refugee camp and had found a new home in Australia.

“He was a playful, lovely boy, who was from South Australia and he had decided to come to Albury to visit his family and friends during his TAFE holiday, but he never returned,” he said.

“Without the support of Albury council, this would not have taken place, and the installation of this bench is sponsored by Amit’s uncle, family and friends.”

The Multicultural Council of Wagga manager Belinda Crain also sponsored the bench.

“It is not only a great tool for honouring Amit, but it also carries an important message – it reminds us the danger of swimming in lakes, dams and rivers,” she said.

“We have a message to the community – if you don’t know how to swim, please don’t go to the river or lake.

“They are dangerous.”

Councillor David Thurley paid tribute to Mr Rai and said the Bhutanese on the Border had a strong sense of community spirit.

“We value your contributions to our community, your food, music, hard work, and commitment to your new home,” he said.

“I also have to say we should give our thoughts to another family, the family of Nepali man Bigul Pandit, who appears also to have been taken from us.”

The search for Mr Pandit continues after he was swept underwater at Noreuil Park on January 9.