An event will be held on Thursday, July 1 commencing at 10.30am in the gardens where the town will welcome Victorian RSL president Dr Rob Webster to mark the centenary.
A memorial seat, generously made and donated by Tom McCluskey, will be unveiled, a big birthday cake made by Elsie Berryman will be cut and local schoolchildren will sing.
Morning tea in the Soldiers’ Memorial Hall will bring the ceremony to a close.
The RSL was established in 1916 with the principal goal of providing support for servicemen returning from World War I.
There was no formal government welfare scheme for veterans at that time so the diggers’ association took on the role.
When the Mathoura sub-branch was formed in 1920 one of its first projects was to provide a fitting memorial for the mates who did not return, so they would never be forgotten.
At first, according to newspaper reports, the aim was to build a hall, but that soon changed to a memorial garden with a monument and rotunda.
The first recorded fundraiser was a sports day in 1920, which impressed the Deniliquin Independent:
“The president (W Jennison), hon. sec. (J Whitworth) and committee of ‘cobbers’ deserve a pat on the back for our day’s sport, with a hope that, next Anzac Day, they will all be present and keep in our memory that never-to-be-forgotten day (April 25, 1915).”
Although the group had been formed in 1920 it did not become affiliated with the parent body until the following year and curiously became a sub-branch of the Victorian league. Research by an officer of that organisation could not discover why.
Another little mystery, a long wait for the group's charter, was explained by head office. To formally recognise the sub-branches’ membership, each was issued with a certificate called a charter. Each one was hand-lettered by just one hard-working calligrapher. Some branches had to wait up to two years, such was the rush to join up.
Once they had their charter, the Mathoura boys soon had their plan for the garden under way, with working bees, tree-planting and fundraising efforts. It was a big project and from time to time there were grumbles from critics.
One issue, a request in 1932 to the Murray Shire Council to take over and maintain the garden, which had been agreed to by a previous council, generated many columns of vigorous debate from shire councillors, RSL officers and private citizens in letters to the editors of district newspapers.
Peace was eventually restored and members of the public showed their approval by turning out in droves for the official opening and unveiling of the granite monument on Anzac Day, 1934. The Deniliquin Independent estimated “easily 500” attended and “in addition to practically the whole population of Mathoura there were large numbers from Deniliquin and the surrounding districts, as well as visitors from Moama and Echuca”.
Visitors from Mathoura’s neighbours will again be most welcome at the centenary celebrations.
David Joss
Mathoura RSL sub-branch associate member
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