Photo caption: Gilgai Crown Land Manager Board’s Rick Ellis, left, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and Karl Silveira inspect the Gilgai War Memorial in 2020, ahead of a $10,000 restoration funded through the Community War Memorials Fund.
NORTHERN Tablelands MP Adam Marshall is encouraging the region’s RSL sub-branches and local councils to assess the condition of local war memorials and consider applying for funding to make improvements from the State Government’s Community War Memorials Fund.
Mr Marshall said past grants had supported a range of local projects including the $10,000 restorations of the Gilgai War Memorial and the new fence at the Boomi War Memorial Hall.
“On ANZAC Day, locals gather at cenotaphs, public halls and monuments to pay respect and honour our diggers,” Mr Marshall said.
“Many of these memorials were built in the years following the First World War and are approaching their centenaries.
“In preparation for these milestones, and future commemorative events, grants of up to $10,000 can be accessed to support costly preservation and maintenance works.
“It is also vitally important we protect our local war memorials so that communities big and small have a central place to gather and reflect on the lives of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
“If a project is directly related to a war memorial chances are this program will fund it including conservation assessments, honour roll repair, war memorial cleaning and conservation work and arborist advice for war memorial trees.
“For our smaller communities war memorials tend to be public halls and so this is also an opportunity to repair and improve access at these important facilities.
“I encourage all communities who believe their local memorials needs repair or restoration to apply for this latest round of funding.”
Applications for the Community War Memorials Fund are now open and closes at 5pm on Monday, 25 July 2022.
For further information about the Community War Memorials Fund, and to apply, visit www.veterans.nsw.gov.au/heritage/community-war-memorials-fund