RESTORATION work at Vansittart Park’s Soldiers Memorial should be completed by the end of next week in anticipation of a full calendar of remembrance events next year.
The memorial, which had fallen into disrepair, is being restored by Mount Gambier City Council at a cost of around $8000, according to RSL president Bob Sandow.
Mr Sandow said each of the memorial’s four corners had been damaged over the years and a number of cracks had appeared in other sections of the structure.
“The damage has been caused over the past decade or so and City Council has been forthcoming when the issue was raised by the RSL,” he said.
“We are thankful to council and Mayor Andrew Lee for assisting in restoring this very important symbol of our history.
“The monument belongs to the community and falls under the custodianship of the RSL.”
In addition to the main structure of the memorial, accompanying flower boxes are also being overhauled in anticipation of next year’s remembrance days.
Veteran council gardener Dan Jevtic, 64, told The Border Watch he was preparing the flower boxes for petunias for next year’s Anzac Day.
“I have been a council gardener for 28 years and have spent many a year in this section of the garden,” he said.
“It is very important to me.”
Mr Sandow said the memorial was unveiled in 1922 as a “perpetual witness to the bravery of the Australians who fought and died for their country and their principles”.
“May these values be transmitted from generation to generation,” he said.
