War Memorial Plaques
Yesterday, our eastern suburbs community woke to the distressing news that the brass nameplates had been stolen from the Burnside District Fallen Soldiers Memorial and the Avenue of Honour on Alexandra Avenue, Rose Park.
This latest desecration follows similar incidents at the Gums Reserve War Memorial in Tranmere, the Ridge Park Memorial Obelisk in Myrtle Bank, Unley Soldiers Memorial Gardens and other sites in Mitcham.
The theft of the names of those who served in the First World War is a shocking act of vandalism and an appalling disregard for the memory of those who served.
I cannot adequately express my disgust at this act.
Nor, I suspect, can the many families and community members who have been confronted with the damage.
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A war memorial is not simply a structure of stone and brass.
It is a promise that those who served, and those who never returned, will not be forgotten.
It is a community’s enduring expression of gratitude and its commitment to keeping their memory alive.
The Burnside Soldiers Memorial has stood proudly for more than a century. It was established by a community that wanted to honour its sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and friends who served in the First World War.
Behind every name on those plaques is a human life, and a family whose future was changed forever. Parents who waited for news. Wives and children who lived with loss. Families who found some comfort in knowing their loved one would always be remembered.
Those families entrusted their loved ones’ names to the care of our community.
The people responsible for this theft have violated that trust.
There is something particularly poignant about the bronze soldier at the top of the Avenue of Honour, depicted turning back to offer a helping hand to his mate.
That image speaks to the bonds of service, loyalty and mateship forged in the most terrible of circumstances.
How utterly contrary to that spirit are the actions of those who have vandalised this memorial.
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The timing makes this all the more distressing. We are less than a month away from Remembrance Day, when Australians gather to honour those who have died or suffered in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
For many families - attending a memorial service is an annual act of remembrance, a way of keeping faith with those who are no longer with us.
Through my husband’s military service, I have some personal understanding of the commitment that service asks of a person and the sacrifices it can ask of a family.
But we do not need a personal connection to the Defence Force to understand why these acts are so deeply offensive.
These memorials belong to all of us. They are part of our shared history and identity.
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This theft has hurt veterans and serving personnel, descendants seeking a connection to relatives they may never have known, and a wider community that has cared for this memorial for more than a century.
On behalf of the Malinauskas Labor Government, I condemn these acts in the strongest possible terms.
We are appalled by the desecration of these sites and are committed to working with the City of Burnside, other affected councils and the RSL to restore the memorials ahead of Remembrance Day on November 11.
To the families whose loved ones are commemorated on these plaques, I want to say this: your loved ones have not been forgotten.
Their service and their place in our history have not been diminished by this act.
The community that raised this memorial still stands with you, and we will work to ensure these names are returned to their rightful place.
We can only hope that the person or people responsible for this grotesque act of public vandalism find cause to hang their heads in shame.
I hope they reflect on the profound inappropriateness of what they have done and return the plaques, intact, so they can be restored to their rightful place.
They should reflect on the extraordinary courage and sacrifice commemorated by those names, and consider how far their actions fall short of the dignity, service and selflessness those men demonstrated.
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These names are not theirs to take, sell or destroy.
They belong to the families who have carried their loss for generations, and to a nation that owes a debt of gratitude to those who served.
Those who gave their lives for their country deserve better than this.
Their families deserve better.
And our community deserves better.