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Woopi News- Northern Beaches Memorials Project Update
We need your ‘Likes’ on Facebook
In February 2023, the Northern Beaches Memorials Project (NBMP) was launched with the support of local service clubs and community organisations. The aim was to modernise the Diggers Club Memorial and restore the 1923 Woolgoolga and District Great War Memorial, elevated on a three-step plinth on public land in the heart of Woolgoolga near the beach.
In August 2023, Woopi News announced that Wyong Leagues Group had donated funds to facilitate the Woolgoolga RSL subBranch commissioning a design for a modernised Diggers Club War Memorial that would facilitate the return of marble name plaques from the current memorial back to their original location on the stored 1923 Woolgoolga and District Great War Memorial in preparation for its restoration. “We proudly support the Northern Beaches Memorials Project that promises so much for the northern beaches community,” said Glenn Buckley, the Wyong Leagues Group Venue Manager at the Diggers Club.
The NBMP is delighted to offer a proposed design for community endorsement before seeking quotes for construction. Community support will be crucial for securing sponsors to fund the construction of the refurbished memorial. The success of the Diggers Club modernisation phase will set the scene for reinstating the 1923 Woolgoolga and District Great War Memorial.
The enhanced Digger’s Club Memorial design continues to commemorate the service and sacrifice of the First and Second World Wars. It now includes the locations of post-Second World
War and post-Cold War campaigns and peace support operations inscribed on the memorial face with small holes for poppies to be placed in remembrance. It will continue to be the destination of the Anzac Day March and the location of the main Anzac Day ceremony. The restored 1923 Great War Memorial will be the location for the Anzac Day dawn service and the November 11 Remembrance Day Service each year. The modernised memorial will be the focus for younger veterans and their families for Anzac Days as well as other days commemorating particular campaigns and peace support operations, such as in Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Rwanda, PNG (Bougainville), Solomon Islands, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Funds from the Wyong Leagues Group and a passionate and committed local design team have delivered a magnificent design that the Woolgoolga RSL sub-Branch membership has warmly endorsed. The NBMP thank Tony Ross, a former President of the Woolgoolga and Northern Beaches Chamber of Commerce, and his design studio 22 team led by architect Andrew Wilson, a Mid-North Coast resident since 2004 and Emma Barnes, building and interior designer and another midNorth Coast local, for the design’s simplicity and dignity. The design studio 22 team will be the project managers for the refurbishment of the Diggers Club Memorial and will advise on technical aspects of the restoration of the Great War Memorial.
What can you do to support this project? “We now seek the Northern Beaches community endorsement by ‘liking’ the design on the Woolgoolga RSL sub-Branch, Rotary and Woopi News Facebook pages and sending e-mail endorsements to the Woolgoolga Rotary and RSL subBranch e-mail addresses. They will be proud of their endorsement when gathering on commemorative days in decades to come.” said Bob Breen, NBMP Convenor.
Contacts:
Rod Mackenzie
President, Woolgoolga Rotary Club rotarywoolgoolga@gmail.com or 0419 728 888
Colonel Bob Breen OAM (retd), President, Woolgoolga RSL sub-Branch Convenor, Northern Beaches Memorials Project
Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Chayko VR (retd) Honorary Secretary Woolgoolga RSL sub-Branch. Secretary, Northern Beaches Memorials Project
Phone/Fax: (02) 6654 2095
E-mail: WoolgoolgaSB@rslnsw.org.au
