Our Honour Board Wall - A Work in Progress

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome you don't need to be an ADF service member or a veteran ---- I just had to tell you about our new Honour Board Wall.

We applied to the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) under their 'Saluting their Service' grants offering and were granted sufficient to begin work on our new Honour Board wall.

We've been waiting for months to get started because construction trades are so busy, our little job had to wait.

However, Liddy Building, a Barossa-based company gave us a quote and this week work began. These guys really know their stuff.

The image shows the first stage of construction.

Later, electrical work will be completed - lighting to light up our honour boards that go in the recessed parts, and we'll transfer the names of our veterans from all wars into their new display space.

Through the doorway we will see our lighted cross towards which we look when stating our RSL Ode: "They grow not old as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them. Lest we forget."

Our Hut was transferred to its current location at the Tanunda Recreation Park in 1946 and hopefully will be here for many years to come.

We'll post more images when the Honour Board is completed.

Completing the "Saluting their Service" Programs

During 2020 and 2021 our sub-branch was fortunate enough to receive two separate annual grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs to:

1. Preserve Australia's wartime heritage and to involve people throughout the nation in a wide range of projects and activities that highlight the service and sacrifice of Australia's service personnel in wars, conflicts, and peace operations
2. Promote appreciation and understanding of the experiences of service and the roles that those who served have played in shaping the nation.

Thelma Zimmerman

Our programs focused on South Australian veterans and their families and were joint ventures with Christian Teusner's "The Emu Tree". Our sub-branch managed the grant and Christian did all the groundwork on our behalf recording hundreds of oral interviews and collecting hundreds of historical photographs. He also held displays at Ayres House, Adelaide, Tanunda, Port Pirie, Waikerie, Mount Gambier. 

Mrs Thelma Zimmerman, whose photo appears here served during World War II as did her husband. Mrs Zimmerman provided a very informative audo interview that reflects on life in her childhood. If you have a few minutes to listen to it, we highly recommend it - click here.

There are too many others who contributed to mention each of them, however, we appreciate every last one of them for allowing us to share their lives and helping make these programs a success.

We do have all of the audio recordings that can be searched here. You may even find a member of your family or someone you know.

The audio recordings and photographs will be distributed to a suitable agency for addition to our vast national collection of historical military resources. The DVA will advise whether the collection should be passed to the Australian War Museum, the National Archives, or some other relevant agency.

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Saluting their Service Exhibition

The Barossa Regional Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of photographs and oral history stories from military veterans who served in all theatres of war from and including WWII and their widows/widowers.

This exhibition arranged by The Emu Tree's, Christian Teusner appeared during SALA last year and this year and was highly popular. Apart from a huge collection of photographs of those who served, the oral histories may be listened to on-site or at any other time online here.

The exhibition will be held from Saturday, 18 September 2021 daily until Sunday, 26 September 2021 between 11 am and 3 pm on all days.

Funding for the exhibition was provided to our Sub-Branch by the Department of Veteran's Affairs and your committee partnered with The Emu Tree to undertake the project on our behalf. 

It's been very successful with dozens of oral histories recorded and hundreds of original photographs provided by veterans and their families.

It's a must-see, so tell your friends and family and visit during the above times.