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100 Years of RSL - down through the decades

100 Years of RSL – down through the decadesToday, the Courier continues the 100 years of RSL – down through the decades series. Today’s article tells the story of the ninth decade of the Cobram-Barooga RSL Sub-branch.1999-2008This article starts at the end of the 20th century, when the Cobram-Barooga Sub-branch was seeking funding to repair and replace the memorial plaques in Hay Ave (but had to wait a while for this to occur); it continued the practice of sending “comforts” to the troops – this time to Timor Leste (East Timor) - and donated two guns to Nathalia for display in the town's memorial gardens. And we survived the Y2K bug.Once again, the feasibility of running bingo and the maintenance of the club room featured in the minutes – that is until December 2000, when the members met to discuss an offer from Moira Shire to buy the building so the shire offices could be extended. (The plaque from the opening of the RSL club room can be found on the wall of the extension).Yet again the search was on for a new home. Would it be at the golf club, Sporties or the Italian Club?By July 2001, the following motion was passed “that the Cobram-Barooga Sub-branch move its centre of operations from Cobram to Barooga Sports Club, provided satisfactory negotiations and agreement will ensure the continuing and future status of the RSL, and that the name of the RSL be maintained in future years”.Once the move was confirmed, it was time for the last call of “bingo!” – the decision on its viability had been made. Were you there for that last call in August 2001?And then there was a decision to be made about the memorial plaques that had been moved from the clock tower to the club room.Each time you now enter Sporties you walk past the new location and this memorial was dedicated by the then RSL State president Bruce Ruxton, in November 2001.This was followed by further research to add the names of Barooga servicemen and, on Anzac Day 2004, the new plaques were unveiled.This memorial became the site of an additional commemoration service each Anzac and Remembrance Day (the name was changed from Armistice Day in 2002) and the sub-branch provided the flag pole in the car park.During this time services were also commenced at Ottrey Homes and, following the 2006 Harness Racing Club Remembrance Day meet, when the sub-branch sponsored the main race, it provided a flagpole there.In addition to providing a meeting room for the sub-branch, the Sporties provided the space for the display of memorabilia which is located in the entrance air-lock. The sub-branch thanks the club and all who have donated items.Attendance at a dawn service often includes that wake-up/warming cup of coffee (now provided by Apex), but in 2001 sub-branch members were asked to each bring along a thermos of hot water to share with others.Do you know how many ‘lone pines’ there are in our district? Obviously, they are not really ‘‘lone’’, but are Allepo pine trees that can be traced back to the lone pine on the Gallipoli peninsula.There are two at the Cobram memorial, one each at Cobram Secondary College (1999), Barooga Gardens (2003) and Katamatite Primary School (2005).It was during this time that the sub-branch commenced its push to change the badge provided to affiliate members to a design that incorporates the recognisable RSL badge.Despite a number of submissions to state conferences this has not been successful – but the sub-branch is still trying.With the sub-branch honour board and available minute books commencing in 1928, it seemed reasonable to conduct the 75th anniversary in 2003. We now know that we were actually celebrating 84 years.The “Tobruk Tribune” was born as a bi-monthly sub-branch newsletter late in 2003. While it continues today with three editions a year, the production and distribution has changed from those early editions that were produced using a duplicator (Roneo or Gestetner). Imagine the excitement when the wax stencils cut with a typewriter were replaced with word-processing on a computer – this change also meant that meeting minutes were typed.The sub-branch had a couple of successful membership drives during this period, including targeting those who had completed National Service and, in 2008, was rewarded at state conference with a certificate for highest membership growth for a sub-branch of its size.Attendance at meetings increased significantly after the move to Sporties. From an average of 12 members at meetings in 2000, the attendance jumped to consistently having 20 in 2002 and peaked at an average of 37 in 2008. But this created a problem – the meeting room was now not big enough.As members of an Allied Force, members of the Italian community joined our commemoration services, laying wreaths for the first time on Remembrance Day 2004.Many from the Italian community have since joined as affiliate members.2004 was also the time when terminology changed for those members who had served in uniform – since this time they are known as ‘‘service members’’ not ‘‘ordinary’’ members of the League.The Cobram and Barooga bowling clubs successfully hosted the Edinburgh Shield Lawn Bowls tournament and the sub-branch fielded two competitive teams against the visitors.Available records show that our communities continued to generously support the two major appeals with the Anzac Appeal averaging just over $6000 and the Poppy Appeal just under $5000.Individual awards presented during this time were: national life membership to George Hewett (2003); 50 years of RSL membership to V Wyatt (2005); and 60 years to John Cain (2008).

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