By Callum Ludwig
The Seville War Memorial is set to be restored with the support of a recent grant from the State Government.
$28,890.20 has been announced through the Restoring Community War Memorials and Avenues of Honour Grant Program to help create and reinstall the two panels that were damaged.
Chair of the Seville War Memorial Committee Anthony McAleer OAM said they are excited and relieved by the grant announcement.
“It’s been a huge burden that we felt over the community that certainly has now been solved so we’re very grateful to the State government for supplying the funds to enable it to happen,” he said.
“We’ve certainly we’ve had contingency plans in place for quite a while, but we’re certainly hoping to have it up and ready before Remembrance Day in November.”
The company that created the original glass panels will be back on board to recreate them, with the original designs and specifications having been retained.
President of the Seville Township Group Graeme Black said it would have been very difficult for the repairs to be funded any other way.
“It’s a very big project for a small town and that’s where we need state government to sometimes come in and help out, so we are very grateful,” he said.
The grant programs can be used to restore war memorial, honour rolls or avenues of honour to their original condition or amend them to ‘better reflect veteran service’, such as adding additional names.
Mr McAleer said the only issues that still remains is the security in the area.
“It’s been a big issue for us, and we do realise that we need security cameras here, so the first thing we did was go to the (Yarra Ranges) Council who directyed us to the Yarra Ranges Safety Camera Network who were given funding here,” he said.
“We really want to have a serious discussion with them because we don’t want to put the memorial glass panels up without that added security there,”
“We definitely believe that we need the security cameras here and certainly if they had been here put in previously there’s a good chance that it may have deterred somebody from attacking the memorial.”
On 31 January 2019, $440,000 in funding from the Department of Home Affairs was allocated towards the Yarra Ranges Safety Camera Network following an election promise from former Casey MP Tony Smith set to bring a network of CCTV cameras to Seville, Warburton, Montrose, Monbulk and Millgrove.
Mr Smith also promised cameras for Lilydale, Yarra Glen, Woori Yallock, Monbulk, Mount Evelyn and Mooroolbark at the 2016, which went on to be delivered.
