A revitalised Iluka Chapter of the RSL will lead a commemoration service at the Iluka War Memorial on Tuesday, 18 August, marking Vietnam Veterans Day and the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
The service, starting at 11am on Charles Street, will be the first in several years to be run by the chapter itself, after age and declining health among its older members meant Iluka Public School had stepped in to organise Anzac Day and other commemorations.
President of the Maclean RSL sub-Branch, Steve Walton, said the change had come about after a wave of new members joined the Iluka chapter.
“There’s a lot of old and bold people over there who have been veterans but haven’t really stepped up previously, but now they feel that it’s their turn to take on the role of leading or delivering commemoration services for their suburb,” Mr Walton said.
For the past five or six years, Iluka Public School’s students and former principal Phil had taken a lead role in running Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services, after the chapter’s older veterans, including a Korean War veteran in his late 90s, found it too difficult to continue. A change in leadership at the school, combined with the influx of new RSL members, meant the timing was right to hand the role back to the veteran community.
Mr Walton said the sub-branch was supporting the Iluka chapter as it found its feet again.
“The club sub-branch has provided all the gear that they’ll need, the branded tentage and the PA systems and all that sort of stuff, so they’ll be self-sufficient,” Mr Walton said. “It’s better if these things are done by locals.”
This year’s service takes on extra significance with the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, fought in Vietnam on 18 August 1966.
“It’s a perfect time to let them loose,” Mr Walton said.
While Mr Walton is not aware of any Long Tan veterans living locally, given veterans of the battle would now be well into their 80s, he said the day still mattered to the wider community.
“It’s definitely for the veterans and for their families that we hold these sorts of services,” Mr Walton said.
The Iluka ceremony will follow a standard commemorative format, including an opening address, prayers of remembrance, the Last Post, the Rouse, the national anthem and the laying of wreaths. Mr Walton said speeches were kept deliberately short out of consideration for elderly veterans standing on parade, though the larger Iluka service traditionally includes a live bugler and piper.
No local councillors are expected to attend this year’s service, with a council meeting scheduled for the same day, though Mr Walton said councillors regularly attended the region’s bigger commemorations.
The handover reflects a broader challenge facing RSL sub-branches across the Clarence Valley, where a census identified around 1,600 veterans, many of them elderly, in nursing homes, or occupied with work and young families. Mr Walton said the sub-branch relied heavily on newly retired and semi-retired veterans moving into the region.
Elsewhere in the valley, communities including Chatsworth Island, Harwood and Lawrence run their own Anzac Day services, supported by the sub-branch where needed, reflecting what Mr Walton described as a general shortage of volunteers across the movement.
Mr Walton, who moved to the area in 2015 and joined both the local State Emergency Service unit and the RSL, has since become president of the Maclean sub-branch. He said succession planning was already underway, with veterans of more recent conflicts expected to take on greater roles as they have more time available.
“We’ve got our succession plan and all that, so we’ve got a couple of people lined up,” Mr Walton said. “In the fullness of time.”
For now, Mr Walton said community coverage and awareness of events like the Vietnam Veterans Day service mattered to the veterans involved.
“These sorts of things are important for the community,” Mr Walton said. “Plus it actually makes the troops feel a bit more recognised.”
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