It is almost a century since the famous recruitment marches of WWI weaved through country towns in Australia, calling for young men to join up and head to war.

Throughout the country, a number of communities are planning re-enactments of the marches for the ANZAC centenary commemorations in 2015.

One such march was called the 'Kangaroo March' from Wagga Wagga, in NSW, to Campbelltown on the outskirts of Sydney. On the weekend, NSW Governor Marie Bashir launched the official commemoration countdown.

Graham Brown is the president of he Kangaroo March Re-enactment Committee. He lives in Exeter in the Southern Highlands, an area where the men marched through.

'It came at a time after the government had put conscription to the vote and it had been knocked back, and our losses were not keeping up with our need for reinforcements, so the Army decided to have regional marches,' he explained.

'The first one was the Cooee March that went from Gilgandra in western NSW to Sydney. It started off with 23 men and ended up with 263.'

In the Kangaroo March, 88 left Wagga and 222 came into Campbelltown, where they stopped and got on a train because they wanted to preserve the 'country flavour' of their recruitment.

Mr Brown says the 2015 re-enactment will maintain a 'period flavour'.

'It's about 520 kilometres, all on foot. It'll be escorted by a recruitment officer on horseback, some horse drawn vehicles and some vintage vehicles.'

He's keen to hear from any descendants of the original members of the Kangaroo March, and was very happy to see three generations of one family turn up at the Wagga celebration on the weekend

'If these stories don't come forward now, we'll lose them.

'It's a final opportunity for the sons of the original Kangaroos to come forward and say 'Well I've got this, that or the other that belonged to my father' and it can be photographed or recorded and become part of our national heritage (at the Australian War Museum).'

Graham Brown, president of the Kangaroo March re-enactment committee

Producer: Cathy Pryor