Have you bought your ANZAC Day Memorabilia?

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome, you don't need to be a member. ---- ANZAC Day is fast approaching - only 9 weeks away.

Our partner, the Militaryshop has a cornucopia of militaria waiting for you to purchase. There are many, new exciting, popular products like the Poppy Impressions range:

Many of these products eg, sturdy shopping bags, mugs, and umbrella are big sellers at our kiosk outside Foodland Tanunda.

Pens sell well - everyone needs a collection of pens. (I have enough to open a stationery shop having had a pen fetish for decades!).

Then there are dozens of different badges covering every one of our wars commencing with World War II.

Afghan Service is well catered for also with Operation Slipper.

Operation Slipper is the Australian Defence Force (ADF) contribution to the war in Afghanistan. In November 2001 Australian SAS troops joined the war in Afghanistan. C-130 Hercules aircraft provided logistic support to the SAS, while F/A-18 Hornets contributed to air defence at the American Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia. From March to September 2002, two RAAF Boeing 707 refuelling aircraft of 84 Wing were based at Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan in central Asia.

The initial ADF commitment in Afghanistan concluded in December 2002 when the Special Air Service Task Group was withdrawn.

An Australian Special Forces Task Group was re-deployed to Afghanistan in August or September 2005.

The Australian Special Forces Task Group was withdrawn from Afghanistan in September 2006.

A Reconstruction Taskforce began arriving in Oruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan in early September 2006. (Source: Virtual Museum)

If you decide to visit the Military Shop using our link here, our sub-branch will receive a small commission.

Thanks Barossans!

---- As a not-for-profit organisation we rely on public support to keep operating. ----

Our volunteer team: Lex, Denise, Alistair, David,
and an unknown but gorgeous photo bomber.

Management Committee Meeting Feedback

---- We have 49 financial members of a membership of 74 ---- 

The Management Committee met on Tuesday, 4 February 25 for the first time this year.

ANZAC DAY 25

Most of our meeting time was spent discussing the new ANZAC Day arrangements now that we cannot access the Soldiers' Memorial Hall for an 11 am commemorative service.

We've included the 11 am service for many years, however, the Soldiers' Memorial Hall is being upgraded and while the upgrade is in progress, all public activities have been suspended.

The Committee decided on a new program, the details of which are:

6:30 am - DAWN SERVICE at the Garden of Remembrance, Murray Street followed by a Gunfire Breakfast that may include Two-Up this year

10:45 am - MUSTER FOR THE MARCH in Basedow Road at the intersection with Murray Street.

11:00 am - STEPOFF and march down Bilyara Road to the Hut.

12:00 pm - LUNCH at the Hut.

Arrangements with stakeholders and third-party players who need early advice have either been completed or are underway so that by 25 April 25 everything will fall into place as expected.

As this is a significant change, please advise as many of your friends and colleagues as possible.

Advocacy

Dr Jack Urlwin has completed his advocacy training and is now available to assist people with DVA applications and appeals. You can read more under the Advocacy tab above.

Maintenance and Improvements

We discussed the numerous changes that have been made to the Hut during the past year and specifically over the Christmas-New Year break with thanks to Tony Boyle, David Babbage, and others who worked to update the Hut's appearance.

If you haven't visited for a while, you should be pleasantly surprised at the gardening, new paint job, static soldiers near the flag pole, modified front doors, and some internal additions. You won't see the new glasswasher installed in the bar. You won't know that the kitchen stove is unserviceable and is being replaced.

You may be wondering where the money came from to afford all these upgrades. Most of it was made possible by the inordinately generous donation of Lamberts Wine Estate's Jim Lambert who donated two pallets of wine to us. This followed two successive years when we ran Fashion Shows in conjunction with the then Barossa-based Dressed for Success at Lamberts Estate.

At left is a view of one of the Fashion Shows. As this only represents about two thirds of the room, you can imagine that it was a large crowd. Many came from Adelaide suburbs.

Our members were involved in getting these shows set up and a couple of our ladies actually did some modelling as they wove their way through the tables.

Many of the attendees also purchased memorabilia that we had on display within the venue, so we did very well financially.

Club Wine

Last year your Committee decided to purchase a quantity of wine from Gomersal Wines and this purchase is well underway thanks to the dynamic members of our team who organised it.

Ultra Labels & Flexpack designed the label that appears below and did so at no cost to the sub-branch, which is wonderful. We were all impressed with the design, the background of which is a better blue than that shown in this graphic. 

Between the words, "2021 SHIRAZ" and "The Hut" is a line that divides the bottle front label from the rear label that has a short history of our Hut.

How good is that?

The wine will be available for sale around mid-March and as we spoke about how we looked forward to it, most of us said we had hoped not to wait. But time is going faster this year, don't you think?

AFL Sausage Sizzle

President David has been discussing our members running a sausage sizzle on behalf of the AFL located at the footbridge that leads to the Adelaide Oval. Everything would be provided and we would simply need to provide feet on the ground to run it for a donation to the sub-branch.

Given that we are experts at sausage sizzles, this would be a breeze.

We'll keep you posted about this project.

The Hut Open Day

Your Committee is interested in expanding our engagement with the communities that surround us. 

One plan being mooted is to hold an Open Day in which we invite the community to come visit us perhaps between 10 am and 3 pm to look at our memorabilia (and hopefully to buy some) and while with us discuss membership or just have a coffee, tea or other beverage.

Well, as they said in one of the old cartoons on TV, "That's it Folks".

Don't be afraid to leave a comment below and tell us what you think of our plans?

PS: Don't forget you can subscribe at the top right corner of this page to get immediate updates when posts are made. 

Our First Happy Hours for 2025!

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Visitors are welcome ---- Will you join us for our first Happy Hours of 2025 on Friday, 7 February?

The phrase "Happy Hour" being singular is really a misnomer. 

We have several hours in which we are happy, surrounded by our fellow members and occasional visitors. Visitors are always welcome.

Sometimes we have a major meal to which members are asked to RSVP. These are usually once per month and are very popular.

Other evenings we have a small offering of finger foods that often include sausage rolls, small pies and, ... well, you get the idea.

If you need somewhere to go on Friday, 7 February, come to The Hut for several happy hours. We'll look forward to seeing you.

In the meantime, why not click on the link below and see what new badges or other memorabilia you could add to your collection.

Militaria Available

Outstanding Australia Day Event

---- Will you be our next new member? Check out the Membership tab above  ---- 

Australia Day fell on a Sunday this year and the Committee decided to hold an Australia Day Sausage Sizzle with some traditional Australian lamb thrown in. After all, what's Australia Day without some lamb?

It was an excellent day commencing around midday with around 45 people at The Hut. Most were members and we had the benefit of meeting some new people, a couple from Norway, and some other visitors. 

Members and those who have attended previously would have noticed the upgrade to the front entrance with a new, bright, and welcoming paint job and re-engineered front doors. The propellor has been painted and the year 1946 appears just behind the prop signalling The Hut's establishment date. 

Thanks to a handful of volunteers who have spent hours upgrading our beloved Hut, it's now looking like the place to be, not just on Friday evenings - more about that later.

The habitual and invariable volunteer shown at left who will remain nameless, but whose initials are TB swore that he had painted "1946" with a one-inch paintbrush but our bullsh*t detectors told us otherwise and the editor took this photo as evidence. You can see him peeling back the figure covers.

Everyone present at the event seemed to enjoy the food and good company and of course the refreshments are always in high demand. We also managed to have a few good laughs during the afternoon as our "door" prize winner was announced. 

It was the first draw of the day and while everyone waited with baited breath and the room fell silent President Dave called out the ticket number and our member Robert K was delighted to be the winner. The rest of us sighed with disappointment and took another sip of our wine.

David stepped outside The Hut for a few seconds and when he came back with the door prize, everyone had a hearty laugh. We'll never know what Robert K thought. Maybe the photo of Robert (left) and David answers that question as Robert was the lucky recipient of a screen door surplus to requirements.

Well, no, he was handed a lovely bottle of red wine and the door returned to the shed. Thanks for the laugh guys.

The laughs didn't stop there.

The next lucky winner was Ian T who won a subsequent raffle ticket and finished up with a new, shiny emergency helmet in RSL blue with a flag that is self-explanatory. It kills the rumour that Ian never drinks water as you can see the bottle on the helmet. Whether he actually drinks Hahn beer is a complete unknown.

The remainder of the raffle draws were much less humourous affairs when a few lucky people received bottles of wine and someone was heard to comment, "That's another five dollars I'll never see again" as they threw their raffle tickets into the bin.

Life is full of winners and losers, but it's all good fun at The Hut.

Talking of fun, the Management Committee has decided that we will open The Hut on ad hoc occasions and not just on Friday evenings. This Australia Day opening was a trial event to see whether it would be worthwhile and the outstanding conclusion is that it was. There will be more occasions during which we open throughout the year as well as those commemorative military days during which we always open. 

We hope to have at least one, perhaps two Open Days when we invite the Barossa Valley public and any tourists to come visit us, view our interesting display of military memorabilia, have a refreshment, discuss what we do and why we do it.

RSL Sub-Branches across Australia are not only for serving ADF personnel and veterans, anyone is welcome to visit or join and Affiliate membership is available for those who haven't experienced military service, but who support the Objects of the RSL. You can read all about them in the About tab above.

PS: Subscribe to this blog above if you wish to be advised of new posts. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose or shared.

Remembrance Day - Coming Soon

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----

  
 

Veterans Health Week Crabbing Event

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----For the third year in a row, Trevor and Charmane Klose have offered to hold a crabbing event at their premises at Port Parham for Veterans' Health Week on 18 October 24. 

 
Veterans' Health Week is held annually, usually in October, promoted and funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This year the theme is Keep Connected.

Anyone who has attended one of these events at Port Parham gets a chance to catch, cook and eat crabs as well as some other healthy foods.

They also have the opportunity to learn about such health topics as diet, exercise, mindfulness and the importance of Keeping Connected with their communities.

The details of this event are:

Location: 8 The Esplanade, Port Parham, SA (a private premises)

Date and Time: 18 October 24, 0900 - 1400 hours

RSVP: Places are limited, so an RSVP will be appreciated to Trevor Klose, 0418 632 508

Lunch: Will be provided and non-alcoholic refreshments will be available before 1400 hours. 

What to bring: Clothing for entry to the water including good shoes to protect your feet - the crabs nip! Some crabbing equipment will be available, but if you have some, please bring it and don't forget your hat, sunscreen lotion, sunglasses, and any other personal items you think you may need.

If you've never been crabbing before, don't worry, there will be some experts on hand to help you.

Leon, Robin (back), Trevor, and Heath

Here's the evidence: Some of the team with their catch that later turned into lunch and crab meat with sweet chilli sauce.
 

The Hut Closed Friday 20 September 24

---- We will NOT be open on Friday, 20 September but will open on Thursday, 19 September Instead ---- Because the Tanunda Recreation Park will be closed to the public on Friday, 20 September as preparations are made for a football event on the following Saturday, our Hut will not open.

Instead of opening on Friday, we will open on Thursday, 19 September 24 for Happy Hour from 5 pm.

We go All Out for our Members

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----Recently Esther, one of our members had her 99th birthday, a special occasion in anyone's diary. Esther is a World War II Army veteran known to every other member and highly regarded.

Sadly, I couldn't be present as much as I would have liked to have been but feedback from those who were was that it was a spectacular birthday party enjoyed by many members and Esther's family. It's not every day one turns 99!

Esther was picked up by a member in a vintage vehicle and driven to The Hut like a Queen. As she entered, this was the scene she saw:

Several of our members spent hours (literally) pulling streamers through the ceiling and preparing everything the day before which is when I took these photos. 

No doubt someone had to dismantle the streamers and other things after the event. We are forever grateful to those members.

Apparently, the birthday veteran did a bit of dancing and was so impressed with the singer that she asked if she could book him for her 100th. I'm sure he agreed.

Now, that's what I call planning!

When she attends The Hut on Friday evenings, she always has a nip of brandy and I noticed last night that she now has a beautiful inscribed, personal brandy glass that will be waiting for her when she arrives.

Editor

PS: You don't have to be a 99-year-old veteran to join us on Friday evenings. If you're 18 or older and support the objects of the RSL, we'd love to have you join our happy family. See the Membership tab above for details.

Life Membership Awarded at Dinner Night

---- Interested in the RSL - Want to become a member? Contact us. ----

At our dinner night on 19 July 24 we enjoyed an excellent lasagne dinner and witnessed our member Neville Jaeschke receive an RSL Life Member award from the RSL SA President, David Petersen. 

Neville joins a list of members recognised for their service and dedication to the objects of the RSL and their local sub-branch over a lengthy period. To be considered for a Life Member award, one must have been a continuous service member for 15 years and have displayed 10 years of outstanding service.

Neville is well qualified to meet these criteria.

Neville served with the Australian Army after call-up as a National Serviceman during the Vietnam War era. 

Before accepting the award, Neville gave members a short talk about dahlias a flower close to his heart. Further details about Neville, his RSL membership, and his life-long love of dahlias have been advised to members separately via a private link.

Neville is the second member we have at present who is a Life Member. Our Past President, Trevor Klose was also awarded Life Membership at the 2023 Annual General Meeting. Both still continue their contribution to our sub-branch for which members are most grateful.

The Lasagne Dinner

Our sub-branch meets most Friday evenings from 5 pm and once per month we have a dinner evening. These evenings are very popular with our members who enjoy the food, the beverages, and of course the good fellowship.

Thirty-eight diners attended this dinner night and the following photos show some of the action:

 Our wonderful catering team prepared and served the meals and cleaned up afterwards. Here are photos of Charmane, Christina and Dawn Nuttall. Not shown are Dawn Klose and Sue Riebke who also helped on the night. The catering team members share the cooking role and do an excellent job.

Presentations for ANZAC Day Support - Tanunda Community

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----Every ANZAC Day we are privileged to have the support of a variety of agents and people who help us make our commemorative activities special.

The key players on the day are:

1. The Tanunda Town Band
2. The Liedertafl Choir
3. Barossa and District Pipe Band
4. Faith Lutheran College
5. Mr Steve Kaisler, Barossa Gallery and Soldiers' Memorial (Barossa Council)

The first three organisations, as would be expected, provide spectacular music support. Faith Lutheran College provides a group of students who assist our team to install and uninstall 300 small wooden crosses on the lawn adjacent to Tanunda Memorial Park where our Dawn Service is held.

Mr Kaisler sets up and manages the Gallery and Soldiers' Memorial Hall where we hold an 11 am commemorative service for those who couldn't attend the Dawn Service at 6 am.  As an employee of Barossa Council we are not permitted to provide a monetary donation, but provide him with a small personal gift.

On Friday, 12 July 24 we presented representatives of the first four organisations with donation cheques for $150 in appreciation of their ongoing support. Here are some of the photos of recipients receiving their cheques. Unfortunately, due to school holidays, Faith Luthern College couldn't provide a recipient, so our member, Mr Neville Jaeschke who oversees the wooden cross project received it on their behalf and will forward it to them when they return to school.

Tanunda Town Band

Vice President Patsy Biscoe presented Mr Gordon Alderslade from the Tanunda Town Band with their cheque.

Formed in 1857, the internationally acclaimed Tanunda Town Band is recognised as the oldest continual brass band in the Southern Hemisphere, and has been entertaining audiences locally, nationally, and internationally for the last 160 years!

Tanunda Town Band is an ‘A Grade’  band which excels in traditional brass band and classical music and regularly takes part in community events, public concerts and corporate engagements.  During its long history, Tanunda Town Band has successfully competed  at local, state, national and international competitions.

The Tanunda Liedertafl Choir

Mr David West from the Liedertafl Choir received their cheque.

The Tanunda Liedertafel is a 45-member male choir. Drawing its four-part singing material from traditional popular German culture. The group's origins date back to 1850.

The members were also instrumental in the formation of a "German Club" in Tanunda in 1855, proving the continuous nature of the choir from 1850 to World War I.

The choir was re-organized in 1920 and, aside from an interruption caused by World War II has been active ever since, primarily in Tanunda and Adelaide. Along with third and fourth-generation German-Australians, the group includes singers with Dutch, British, Polish and, Irish backgrounds. 

Given the nationalities of the members, nearly 50 percent of the material is sung in English or Latin (where tradition dictates).

Barossa and District Pipe Band

Sub-branch member and Pipe Master, Mr Alistair McCallum received the cheque on behalf of the Barossa and District Pipe Band.

The Barossa & District Pipe Band is a Scottish Pipe Band based in the Barossa Valley of South Australia.

The band was established in February 2012 by then Pipe Major, Peter Whitehead. The band started from scratch with beginners and learners coming from surrounding areas. From an initial group of six interested people the band has grown over the years to approximately 20 members at its strongest.

The band is currently led by Pipe Major, Alistair MacCallum who took over the role in October 2022 after the resignation of Peter Whitehead.

Faith Lutheran College

Our member Mr Neville Jaeschke accepted the cheque on behalf of Faith Lutheran College.

Amongst church spires and vineyards, the passion for quality education has been instilled in the hearts and minds of generations before us. In fact, we've been trailblazing since 1845 when the first Barossa Lutheran education facility opened in Tanunda.

Langmeil School, as Tanunda Lutheran School was known then, was the first step in our unending pursuit of an education that brings something extra to the ordinary.

As the Barossa celebrated 140 years of Lutheran education, courage and faith guided the opening of Faith Lutheran Secondary School in 1985.

Passionate educators and a supportive community enabled the school to thrive and quickly grow from the inaugural class of 26 students to over 600. 

Note: If you are a Barossa Valley resident, you can read more about these presentations in The Leader of 17 July 24.

Conserving Letters from the Front

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----Our sub-branch has a large quantity of letters that were sent from the front by a soldier to a friend in Angaston during WWII.

A few of these were sent on "Letter Cards" that anyone old enough will recall were also available from the Postmaster General's Offices (now Australia Post). 

You would pay a standard price for a letter card that opened to a full Quarto size. You'd write your letter, fold it up to look like the letter card at left, lick and stick a tab at the back and post it. They were very convenient and I recall sending some to my parents when I was at boarding school in Charters Towers and my home was at Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory that seemed so far, far away.

The letter card at left is one from our collection of Letters from the Front of which we have possibly a couple of hundred in varying states of legibility.

We want to find an efficient way to store them and make them available for our members and anyone else who would like to read them. With that in mind, I contacted the History Unit of the Barossa Council Library and gained some valuable insight from a very helpful staff member, Allison.

Allison advised me about several ways the letters could best be preserved while stored and how they could be made available for perusal. Probably the preferred option is to digitize the legible letters and make them available online or on a screen reader. Digitized versions will be easier to read and may be zoomed to the size specific readers require. 

This is still a work in progress and once President David and I have decided which option to implement, we intend to apply for a Department of Veterans Affairs grant to have the work done.

Editor

PS: If you have expertise in a field that might help us with the task above, please comment below.

Dinner at Eudunda RSL

---- We have 58 male and female members both ex-service and affiliates - consider joining us ----Our sub-branch was fortunate enough to be invited to attend Eudunda RSL's Annual Dinner.

Fifteen of us bussed to Eudunda where we met the RSL SA/NT State President, enjoyed an excellent roast lamb meal, and had a couple of hours to chat with RSL Eudunda and RSL Gawler members, the latter also having been invited.

It's always interesting to visit different sub-branches because although we share a lot in common, we also manage to have a large number of different artifacts and memorabilia in a range of inventive display methodologies. You can see some of the artifacts inside the RSL rooms below.

 

Management Committee Feedback

---- Our email system is now back to normal and attended to at least once daily ----

Our meeting for Monday 13 May was rescheduled for 9 May and I'm pleased to give you an overview of the main points of discussion.

ANZAC Day

All reports indicated that ANZAC Day activities were a success with a large number of attendees. Several issues were discussed that we believe will help improve commemorations in 2025 and President David said he will call a special meeting to discuss those issues shortly.

Tasks for Volunteers

We needed to discuss the various duties that need to be attended to and which Committee members would do them. For example, organising meals is a big task that also requires table setting, cleaning up afterwards, and ensuring food is not wasted. 

The Hut needs to be cleaned after our Friday Happy Hours and cans and bottles need to be disposed of. There's much more and we rely heavily on individuals to help with these activities.

We're drawing up a list that will be available to everyone shortly so we know who does what, when and why.

Food Handlers Course

Some of us have already completed the mandatory Food Handlers Course but we have decided to do it again to ensure we are up to date and clear about hygiene requirements of the Department of Health.

Grant from Barossa Cooperative

We were delighted to receive a $100 grant from Barossa Cooperative that we can use to buy some of our foodstuffs, perhaps for one of our sausage sizzles or evening dinners. 

Our local community is very generous in supporting us with gifts of wine and these type of grants for which we are always grateful. As a self-funded organisation we wouldn't be able to operate without the revenue obtained from generous organisations and individuals.

Advocacy Training

For several years we haven't been able to provide an in-house Advocacy Service, however, we're pleased to advise that our member Dr Jack Urlwin (whom many locals will know) has agreed to undertake an Advocates Training Program and become our Advocate. 

Poppy Project

We were invited to be involved in a Poppy Project which is about producing a variety of poppy objects including wooden poppy signage to display on Remembrance Day outside our Hut. The Committee agreed it would be a worthwhile project for us and Vice President Patsy Biscoe has taken charge of it.

The next meeting is scheduled for 17 June 24.

How to get your Military Memorabilia

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- Don't miss this opportunity to stock up on your memorabilia!

Two happy customers at our
Foodland sales point

Our member volunteers will run a kiosk outside Foodland Tanunda on 17 and 18 April 24 just in time for you to stock up for ANZAC Day and buy your groceries - two birds with one stone. 

We have a wide range of badges, pens, bags, mugs, and other memorabilia too much to mention here, so we invite you to drop in and have a look. You're sure to find something you can't live without.

Do you have enough memorabilia? No problem, you can make a donation or pick up a free poppy. Everyone gets a free poppy.

If you don't intend to get to Foodland Tanunda on either of those days but would like to support our RSL sub-branch, you can make a donation HERE. 

We buy our memorabilia from the Military Shop which has a much larger inventory of merchandise than we have. The profit we make and donations we receive from many generous businesses and individuals goes towards planning and running ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day for our community, maintaining our Hut in the Tanunda Recreational Park, and to helping our fellow veterans and families.

We think it's a worthwhile cause and hope you do too.

PS: Visitors to our Hut are always welcome and membership is available but not essential.

Another Great Sausage Sizzle

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----On Saturday, 30 March 24 our volunteer members ran another successful Sausage Sizzle at Mitre 10, Nuriootpa.

It's possibly a misnomer to call it a sausage sizzle because we also sold egg and bacon rolls that are always very popular. We also sell a variety of soft drinks. Maybe we should just call it a barbecue. Whatever, we love running them and the public is always very supportive.

Malcolm and Errol

Barossa Mitre 10 generously donates sausages sourced from Barossa Fresh, provides a barbecue setup complete with gas, tables, a tent, and space on their property on which we can operate. We obtain some of our foodstuffs from Foodland Tanunda who generously provide us with a purchase voucher.

It's an early morning for the first of our volunteers who need to load equipment from our Hut at Tanunda Recreation Park, pick up some ice and get set up. 

No sooner do we fire up the barbecue and the sweet enticing smell of sausages and bacon drift through the air and we have people lining up for breakfast.

Malcolm, Elliott,
Andrew and Dawn

This Saturday the first team of volunteers consisting of Malcolm and Errol did the cooking, Andrew ran the cash and credit card processing, and Elliott and Dawn served our customers. Other teams took over during the day.

We are very thankful for our volunteers without which our fundraising efforts wouldn't happen. We're also grateful for the businesses and members of the public who always generously support us.

Our next fundraising effort (more of our member volunteers) will occur shortly before ANZAC Day when we will sell military memorabilia outside Foodland Tanunda on 17-18 April 24. If you are in the area, please call in and see us.

St. Patrick's Day 24

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- This year we want to get more happening at the Hut (see banner photo) located at the Tanunda Recreation Park off Bilyara Road, Tanunda.

Several of our Members

Instead of opening only on Friday evenings, we plan to have some ad hoc openings like we had today for St Patrick's Day.

This was our first "test run" called at short notice and we were pleasantly surprised that numerous of our members attended. Some rose to the occasion and had a Guinness or two for St Patrick. 

Most ad hoc days will be for military-related events such as the end of the Malaya Campaign. However, there is also room for some additional open days for significant international or national events that may be of interest to our members and visitors.

As we head into 2024 we will give you more notice of special openings of the Hut and as always, look forward to having you join us.

Management Committee Feedback

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- Your Management Committee met on 5 February 24, the first meeting of your new committee. We like to provide feedback to keep you informed about what is happening or planned for your club.

While much of what we discuss is routine, relatively low-key topics such as bill payments, there are other topics that we feel might be of interest to you, our member.

With ANZAC Day on the horizon, we began planning for the event, perhaps our most important of the year.

 

There's much to do to ensure a smooth, efficient ANZAC Day is provided for our members and community. This planning will continue now until after ANZAC Day when the crosses we erect at the Garden of Remembrance will need to be removed, cleaned and stored away until Remembrance Day.

Member Neville Jaeschke has been doing this for years with the help of a few other members and a handful of students from Faith College.

Committee Roles: As we have a new committee we had to review the roles that each of us has so that nothing gets missed. Apart from the obvious roles as president, secretary, and treasurer, we also need a catering team, someone to look after maintenance, rostering for our donation activities, social media, and veterans' health. A team needs to be available to clean the Hut after each Happy Hour or open session. These arrangements need to be flexible enough to cover members on holidays, in hospital or for other reasons, unavailable.

Maintenance Issues: We had to have the Hut sprayed to keep an increasing number of tiny ants from infesting the bar and decide how we could ensure hygiene would be sufficient to discourage them from searching for food scraps. 

Our water heater in the bar is leaking and we had to decide how to remedy the situation. We're buying an on-demand gas heater to replace it.

Wall Planner: Commonly known as a Gantt chart, the wall planner is displayed on our noticeboard and shows significant dates for meetings, holidays, and special events such as our sausage sizzle and other fundraising activities plus significant days within our military history.

It will be kept accurate when things change or are added. Later we'll add it to this site.

Member of the Month: Vice-President Patsy came up with the idea of a Member of the Month who will be asked several questions and the answers displayed on the noticeboard. Treasurer, Craig Dunning was the first lucky person to be grilled by Patsy and you can read all about it on the notice board.

The idea of Patsy's is for us to get to know each other a little better.

Who will be next?

Going forward: We have had an extension of our liquor licence area and can now consume alcoholic beverages in the area between the Hut and the canon placement. We plan to install three sails in that area that will be erected when we are using the area. 

Two fans, generously donated to us by members Elizabeth and Tony Boyle have been erected in the Hut, and dimming of the LED lights in the main area of the Hut has been made.

President David wants to see if we can rearrange our display cabinets by theatre of war if we have sufficient memorabilia from each of our major theatres. This will be a long-term project.

We have some insulation material and hope to insulate the main shed with the help of some friendly tradies and several of our own members.

Expanding some of our activities is a work in progress and could include:

1. Opening for an hour or two on significant historical ADF days eg, Korean Veterans Day; we already do this for Vietnam Veterans Day
   
   
2. Opening on ad hoc days inviting any members who wish to attend for an hour or two
   
   
3. Inviting guest speakers to address us on significant and interesting topics
   
   
4. Showing short military-related videos on our overhead projector screen
   
   
5. Visiting other RSL sub-branches by arrangement

The idea is to provide more opportunities to engage for our members and also to promote what we do to the public.

Well, that's it folks. I hope you found this interesting and informative. You can always tell us what you think by sending a comment below.

Happy Hour Has Returned!

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- After a lengthy break over the Christmas-New Year period, our first Happy Hour for 2024 returns tomorrow - Friday, 9 FEB.

We hope you can make it. If you do you'll notice quite a few changes to the Hut premises that were made during the break.

Not only that, you'll be able to take part in a barbecue for a mere $10 per head.

Drink prices are still the same despite a recent increase in alcohol excise, and you'll have time to catch up or meet the usual friendly people who frequent the Hut.

And there's more: On Sunday, 11 Feb members of the Seaton Park RSL sub-branch are visiting us for an hour or so from around 12 midday. You are invited to join us to make them feel welcome.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Announcing a Veterans Organisation with a Difference

---- We open on Friday 9 February 24 from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- 

There are now dozens of organisations supporting veterans and our families.

In the editor's view, this is both positive and negative. Let me explain. It's positive because veterans have many options to choose from and may choose what best meets their needs.

The negative comes from the fact that limited government funding is now spread across dozens of organisations, some of which provide similar or identical services. This leads to inefficiency in service delivery.

Having said that, Due South is different in that it states it is, "Australia’s leading self-funded organisation for veterans and first responders."

So, not only does it intend to assist veterans, but also first responders. This means Due South is a unique organisation and does not rely on government funding. This is what has been said about itself in an article from Frontline:

"Our team is very proud to announce our ambassador … Doug Baird OAM, an Australian rules footballer and a devoted ambassador for Due South. Born on 16 November 1950, Doug’s journey encapsulates not only the thrill of the game but also an enduring commitment to honour, sacrifice, and the well-being of those who have served.

In his prime, Doug graced the football fields as a formidable player with Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) leaving an indelible mark with statistics correct to the end of 1970. Doug played an impressive 130 games for Cooee Football Club, including pivotal roles in the 1978 and 1982 premiership sides also was captain/coach of Ulverstone Football Club 1983/84 before returning to Melbourne. This extraordinary feat speaks not only to his skill on the field but also to his enduring commitment to excellence. 

Doug’s son, Cameron Baird VC MG, emerged as an Australian soldier of exceptional courage, posthumously receiving the Victoria Cross for Australia – the highest military decoration. 

As the ambassador of Due South, Doug Baird brings his passion for supporting veterans and emergency responders to the forefront. His dedication to recognising and honouring the sacrifices of these heroes aligns seamlessly with Due South’s commitment to fostering a community that supports those who served and protected. 

Doug Baird’s involvement with Due South is not just a title it’s a heartfelt endeavour to bridge legacies, Cameron Baird’s rare honour of being one of two individuals to receive both the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Gallantry propels Doug to champion a cause that is deeply personal. 

In ceremonies and events, Doug proudly wears his son’s medals, symbolising the continuation of legacy defined by courage and selflessness. Through Due South, Doug amplifies his voice and influence to advocate for the well-being of veterans and emergency responders, ensuring that their sacrifices are acknowledged, and their stories are told. Doug Baird stands as a beacon, illustrating that the passion for honouring heroes extends far beyond the football field. His ambassadorship is a testament to the enduring spirit of those who serve and commitment to building a community that recognises, supports, and uplifts the brave individuals who have given their all. 

Join Doug Baird in the honour with Due South, where legacies meet, and the heart-felt service beats strong. Doug also holds the following positions: -Patron of the Victoria Cross Trust England -Vice Paton Australian Bravery Association -Ambassador Commando Association Queensland -Vice Ambassador T.P.I Victoria -Ambassador for ANZAC and Yellow Ribbon Australia"