Preserving the Memory of Scone’s Fallen

TODAY the Scone Returned Services League sub-branch has received $3,000 to maintain the World War I memorial on Kelly Street.

Val Quinell, president of the sub-branch said they were pleased to have the funding and would speak to a stonemason to assess how best to preserve the memorial.

“There is moss growing on the top which we have to get rid of and I believe we can’t use chemicals, but a stonemason should know,” said Mr Quinell.

“And when the trucks are diverted out of the town (after the bypass) hopefully we can do something with it,” he said.

The New South Wales Minister for veteran’s affairs, David Elliott said it was important in the centenary of the ANZAC to ensure memorials were preserved for another 100 years.

The Minister spoke to local school children about the importance of memorials in Australia.

“In the first World War 60,000 people were killed and they had to be buried and since the Vietnam War we bring the bodies home, but in the first World War that was impossible to bring 60,000 soldiers home on a long sea voyage,” said the Hon., Elliott MP.

“We had to bury them in Western France and in Belgium and if you go there now you’ll find things that are very familiar there are hotels called Adelaide Hotel, streets called Sydney Street and memorabila from Newcastle, because those towns were very, very proud of the fact that they were defended by Australians and that they died defending them,” he said.

“And if you go there there are cemeteries where just Australian soldiers are buried and if your mum and dad were living in Scone and you were killed in the war on the western front it would have been impossible for them to go and lay flowers at your grave site because it was half a world away,” he said.

“So they built memorials like this and they became really emotional places for the families of the soldiers, where the would come and place flowers on their birthday or on ANZAC Day with the community to pay their respects,” David Elliott MP said.

Preserving the past: Back row: Val Quinell, president of the Scone RSL sub-branch, Hon., David Elliot minister for veterans affairs and Hon., Michael Johnsen member for Upper Hunter. Front row: students from Scone Primary school: Matthew Byrne, Campbell Munn, Eleanor Wyndham and Mackenzie Williams.