Janelle Saffin encourages all local veterans communities to tap into funding for Anzac Centenary commemorations and projects

Janelle encourages veterans to tap into Anzac Centenary Program

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin is encouraging all local veterans communities to commemorate the nation’s  military history under the Australian Government’s new $83.5-million program marking the Centenary of Anzac from 2014 to 2018.

“As we approach the 100^th anniversary since the Gallipoli landings and major battles on the Western Front, the Anzac Centenary Program will honour the sacrifices and service of the first Anzacs and of all members of the Australian Defence Force who have kept the Anzac spirit alive,” she said.

Ms Saffin welcomed a package of commemorative events and initiatives, including a local grants program to help Northern Rivers communities carry out their own Anzac commemoration projects, with funding available from January 2013.

Ms Saffin said some key elements of the program include:

• The refurbishment of war graves to ensure individual and collective memorials to our war dead, in Australia and overseas, are properly maintained.
• Funding for the running of commemorative services overseas during the Centenary;
• An Arts and Culture Fund to support individuals, artists and cultural institutions to develop commemorative displays and artistic creations that showcase our military history;
• A scoping study for a travelling exhibition or similar, that will take important memorabilia from the First World War and subsequent conflicts out to communities across Australia.
• Funding for the establishment of the Anzac Interpretive Centre at Albany, Western Australia, where the first convoys of Australian and New Zealand soldiers left for Egypt and Gallipoli.

Ms Saffin said it was fitting that on the eve of Anzac Day 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Minister Assisting her on the Centenary of Anzac Warren Snowdon were launching a seven-year program in partnership with local councils, communities, ex-service organisations, state and territory governments and international partners.

Ms Saffin also congratulated the Rotary Club of Lismore Incorporated and the Port of Yamba Historical Society after Veterans’ Affairs Minister Snowdon announced they had received Australian Government Saluting Their Service grants for commemorative projects.

Lismore Rotary will use $3356 to help install a stained glass window in the Warrior’s Chapel of St Andrews Anglican Church, Lismore, to commemorate the servicemen who perished in the Sandakan POW death camps and on the Sandakan death marches in Borneo during the Second World War.

Port of Yamba Historical Society will use $1487 towards staging its current exhibition, The Ghosts of World War One, which commemorates the local men whose names appear on the Yamba War Memorial and honour rolls displayed at the Museum.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Media Contact: Peter Ellem 0437 303 875.