Fifteen South Australian projects totalling $130,000 have been awarded State Government funding through the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II (WWII) Grant Fund.
With 2025 marking the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, the grant was established to support initiatives that commemorate and preserve the state’s history in the conflict and honour the sacrifices made.
The largest grant fund released by Veterans SA in its history, it attracted a high calibre of applications from 26 organisations across the state, highlighting the South Australian community’s commitment and deep connection to honouring and preserving local military history.
The approved grants will support projects that create a lasting impact, raising awareness and educating the South Australian community on the sacrifices and contributions made by those who served during World War II and supported the war effort from home.
The RSL Robe Sub-Branch has been allocated $6,850 for a three-part project that includes a storytelling installation highlighting the story of German sea mines washed ashore near Robe in the 1940s, a visual display of laser-cut soldier images on an external wall commemorating those who served in WWII, and a commemorative service and community education display for local schools.
RSL Care will also receive more than $11,000 to transform a courtyard at its War Veterans Home at Myrtle Bank into a memorial and reflection space dedicated to the Bangka Massacre where 21 Australian nurses were tragically killed.
CEO of RSL Care SA Nathan Klinge welcomed the funding that would support the organisation to educate visitors about the event.
“RSL Care SA is delighted to receive this funding, which will go a long way towards establishing the commemorative space in our Bangka wing in memory of the 21 nurses who lost their lives in the Bangka massacre of 16 February 1942,” he said.
“The project will see a silhouette sculpture of survivor Vivian Bullwinkle in a field of 21 poppies, signifying the 21 nurses who lost their lives at Bangka.”
“To have a courtyard dedicated to the nurses of this tragic military event will be a beautiful and symbolic way of acknowledging their sacrifice, and how the legacy of nurses caring for soldiers and veterans lives on in the work RSL Care SA carries out each day.”
Other projects funded include a $20,000 two-part memorial and interactive visual honouring local World War II veterans at the RSL Willunga & Districts Sub-Branch and a $14,000 documentary titled ‘Clarendon’s WWII Era: Trials, Triumphs and Transformation’ by the Clarendon Historic Hall.
