A piece of Prospect will be part of a new Anzac memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park.

NSW government whip Natasha Maclaren-Jones joined pupils from Widemere and Beresford Road public schools, Blacktown councillors and representatives from Blacktown and Seven Hills RSL sub branches to collect a soil sample from the Veteran Hall House Remains site in Prospect.

The Anzac Memorial Centenary Soil Collection Project aims to collect soil from almost 1700 locations around NSW where young soldiers enlisted for World War I.

Mrs Maclaren-Jones said collecting the soil from a broad range of sites across NSW was a reminder of the great sacrifices made by men during World War I.

“A century on, we honour these men by taking a sample of soil and placing it in the Hall of Service at the refurbished Anzac Memorial so that it can be appreciated and commemorated by generations to come,” she said.

It’s part of the NSW government’s upgrade of the Anzac memorial during the Centenary of Anzac. Soil samples will be displayed with the name of the town next to them in the new Hall of Service at the war memorial, due to open in late 2018.

“The Anzac Memorial is the state’s principal memorial to all Australians who have served, and collecting soil from sites from where men and women across NSW came from reminds us that this memorial belongs to everyone,” Mrs Maclaren-Jones said.

Written by Kylie Stevens from the Blacktown Sun