SA VETERAN COMMUNITY RECEIVES $48,000 BOOST IN FUNDING  

Veteran communities from across South Australia will share in $48,029 to help honour our nation’s past and present servicemen and women Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Bruce Billson, announced today.

Mr Billson said the funding is part of the Australian Government’s Saluting Their Service commemorations program, and helps bring our wartime history to life. 

"Saluting Their Service provides an important source of funding to community and ex-service organisations committed to recognising the service and sacrifice of our servicemen and women – past and present – and preserving Australia’s wartime heritage for future generations," Mr Billson said.

"Saluting Their Service encourages community understanding and participation by, for example, raising awareness of significant wartime anniversaries, supporting commemorative events, providing education resources for schools and preserving wartime memorabilia.  Many of these initiatives recall the major battles on the Western Front where we lost many thousands of lives 90 years ago.

"The Australian Government remains committed to supporting community projects that acknowledge those who have served, and continue to serve, our nation in wars, conflicts and peace operations.

"Since the program began ex-service and community organisations across Australia have benefited from Saluting Their Service funding" he said.

"As a nation, we remain indebted to the dedicated Australians who put their lives on the line in the service of Australia.  The Australian Government is committed to honouring them and their place in history—they will not be forgotten," Mr Billson said.

For more information about the Saluting Their Service commemorations program, go to www.dva.gov.au or call 1800 026 185.

Media inquiries: Cameron Hill  0408 239 521

Editors note: A list of grant recipients is attached

Saluting Their Service Grant South Australia Recipients

• The National Malay and Borneo Veterans Association will receive a grant of $3236 to help install a plinth and plaque in the Pathway of Honour in Adelaide dedicated to those who served in Malaya, Borneo and the Indonesian Confrontation.

• Salisbury Gardens Aged Care will receive a grant of $1639 to help install a flagpole in the grounds of the facility for use by residents on days of commemoration.

• Port Pirie Regional Council will receive a grant of $4000 to help restore the Port Pirie World War I Memorial Gates.

• Waikerie RSL Sub-branch will receive a grant of $1307 to help construct a Walk of Remembrance in the Waikerie Memorial Gardens to commemorate local servicemen and women from Waikerie who served Australia in wars and conflicts.

• The City of Mt Gambier will receive a grant of $4000 to help install a power supply at the Vansittart Park War Memorial.

• The McLaren Vale and District RSL Sub-branch will receive a grant of $3870 to help erect a memorial at Gemmel Tassie Reserve in McLaren Vale dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Gaza and Beersheba, and to those from the district who served in the Australian Light Horse during World War I.

• Aberfoyle Hub Primary School will receive a grant of $800 to help plant a Lone Pine tree in the school grounds in honour of local servicemen and women who served in war and peace and to erect security fending around the site.

• South Australian Mounted Rifles Association will receive a grant of $3000 to help hold a commemorative dinner in November 2007 for the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Gaza and Beersheba.

• Saddleworth and District RSL Sub-branch will receive a grant of $1320 to help restore the marble soldier on the top of the Saddleworth War Memorial.

• Mt Lofty Districts Historical Society will receive a grant of $3000 to help hold an exhibition in November at the Stirling RSL Sub-branch to commemorate the involvement of local veterans in the New Guinea campaign.

• The 9 Royal Australian Regiment Association (SA) will receive a grant of $4000 to help install a memorial at the Pathway of Honour in Adelaide dedicated to the 9th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment.

• Mount Barker RSL Sub-branch will receive a grant of $4000 to help restore the Mount Barker War Memorial.

• The 1st Australian Field Hospital Association will receive a grant of $2607 to help purchase six unit banners dedicated to the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, which will be distributed to each state for use on days of remembrance.

• The 9th Australian Division Reunion will receive a grant of $1250 to hold a luncheon on 28 October 2007 at the Mount Gambier Community RSL to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of El Alamein.

• The Northern Adelaide Hills Health Service will receive a grant of $4000 to establish a commemorative garden at the Gumeracha District Soldiers Memorial Hospital for the use of residents on days of commemoration.

• Wakefield Regional Council will receive a grant of $3000 to relocate a Mark 7 Twin Barrelled 4.7 inch Naval World War II gun with turret from Sydney to Port Wakefield.  This is a replacement gun that the Department of Defence has supplied to the Wakefield Regional Council to replace the original World War II gun, which was located in Port Wakefield for 40 years and later moved to Sydney as part of the commemoration of the defence of Sydney Harbour in World War II.

• Birdwood High School will receive a grant of $3000 to help publish a book titled Connecting Spirits, which documents the 2006 pilgrimage by students from the Meningie Area School and Birdwood High School to the World War I battlefields.  Eight Meningie Area School students and five students from Birdwood High School visited the Western Front in 2006 to commemorate four Ngarrindjeri Anzacs who never returned home as well as other local soldiers who lost their lives in the war.