A Port Fairy woman has declared war on the local RSL over its failure to lay a Remembrance Day wreath at the town’s World War I memorial.
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Maria Cameron is taking matters into her own hands, vowing to establish a community group to honour the memory of the town’s war heroes.
“These men served their country for us,” Mrs Cameron said.
“I will fight for them as they fought for us.
“It’s game on. This is war.”
Port Fairy sub-branch president Doug Nolte apologised for what he described as “an oversight” in failing to lay a wreath at the memorial on Sunday’s centenary of the World War 1 armistice.
“It was just something that was overlooked and I probably have to take the brunt of it, being president. We should have had somebody lay a wreath there and I apologise for that on behalf of the sub-branch,” he said.
The RSL instead laid a wreath at the town’s Railway Place memorial which has been the official site of Remembrance and Anzac Day services in recent years following safety issues surrounding the highway location of the World War I memorial.
Located on the western side of the Princes Highway and Bank Street intersection, the World War I memorial has been the subject of a controversial on-again-off-again relocation plan.
Dedicated in 1929, on it are inscribed the names of 233 district soldiers who fought and died in both the first and second world wars.
The Railway Place memorial is dedicated to service personnel who served in World War 2 and subsequent conflicts.
Mr Nolte said under a directive from RSL head office, the sub-branch was not permitted to hold services at the highway memorial because of “insurance and safety reasons”, asserting the Railway Place memorial honoured all world wars and other conflicts.
Mrs Cameron, a passionate history buff and military researcher, has set up a Facebook page ‘Friends of Port Fairy World War 1 and 2 Memorial’ in her campaign to gain community backing for her plan.
She described the RSL’s failure to lay a wreath there on the centenary of the Armistice as “mean spirited”.
“That ground is sacred ground where many a mother, wife and daughter have stood and cried,” she said.
“All I ask is that a wreath be laid there.”
That ground is sacred ground where many a mother, wife and daughter have stood and cried. All I ask is that a wreath be laid there.
- Maria Cameron