THE Bellevue RSL has secured a $10,000 federal grant to relocate their cenotaph after more than half a decade of campaigning.

The funding will come as part of batch two under the federal 2024-25 saluting their service commemorative grants program.

Bellevue RSL secretary Vicki Bates said the sub-branch’s members were delighted their cenotaph site was completed ahead of Anzac Day and were excited for people to gather there.

“The idea was to have the memorial site ready ahead of April 25 – that was the original vision,” she said.

“We usually spend about $15,000 to put together our Anzac Day event, and that starts as a dawn service at Blackboy Hill and then a march in Bellevue.

“The rose garden and the path to the cenotaph won’t be complete until the grant comes in a few weeks later, but the main thing is the cenotaph is ready for Anzac Day.”

Bellevue RSL president Bryn Reed said the cenotaph helped veterans heal from their experiences by giving them a place to come together.

“When I first came back from Vietnam, my medals were thrown across the counter,” he said.

“Someone behind the bar turned around and said, ‘oh, you’re a Vietnam vet – get out’.

“That’s the way Vietnam veterans were treated.

“And this is part of all the healing towards me and towards my brother, because he was wounded over there.

“That memorial is about the social impact – not just for veterans, but for everybody to get together.”

Fellow Bellevue RSL member and Navy veteran Roy Jewell said the hall was overcrowded in the absence of a proper gathering site for the cenotaph.

“Well, we didn’t have a proper service area and we had to have it in here, in the hall,” he said.

“On Anzac Day here, you can’t move because people come from everywhere and a lot of people cram in with some people at the back not close enough to be part of it and that.

“You might have a PA down here, but they can’t see it.

“But out there in the open, there’s going to be a lot more room and people will be closer to it rather than stuck down the back somewhere.”

Mr Jewell said the cenotaph and the new remembrance site means a lot to many in the community.

“A lot of families have had members who have served in the services and didn’t come back and all that sort of stuff, you know,” he said.
“Thinking about all the people I’ve worked with and were involved with in the RSL, quite a few have passed away over the years.
“A lot of the people, they were pretty young Australians when they went to the wars and they didn’t know what they were in for.

“It’s a lot different than what they thought.

“You’re starting to make my eyes water a bit.”

At the end of the club next to the cenotaph area, four mannequins stand.

Some wear military attire while one has on a nurse’s uniform.

On the Navy uniform mannequin, a name badge sticks to the chest which says Darren Probert.

Greenmount resident and Navy electronic specialist Darren Probert was a newer member of the RSL but said he enjoyed the camaraderie of membership.

He donated his uniform after seeing a spare mannequin and wanting to give his Navy attire a new purpose.

Mr Probert said the cenotaph was an evocative monument.

“For me, coming from a military background, it’s almost a familiar thing that involves parades and such,” he said.

“It just evokes memories of being back in the military for me and that’s how things were.

“For me, the importance of it is keeping the whole idea of things alive.

“People that are in the military then have some sort of outlet as well and get paid a little bit of respect along the way for what they’ve done.

“It’s a place where if you don’t show up on a particular day, people will miss you.”