By Alesha Capone
A new memorial honouring 60 soldiers from Wyndham who died during World War I has been unveiled in Werribee.
Members of the Werribee RSL sub-branch, state and federal MPs, residents and Wyndham councillors gathered for the unveiling ceremony on Friday.
The memorial was installed near the intersection of the Princes Highway and Cherry Street – marking the beginning of Werribee’s 1918 Avenue of Honour.
The state government contributed $184,000 to help build the memorial which uses bluestone blocks stacked together to form two walls shaped like a poppy.
The centre of the monument features a granite structure with the Australian Rising Sun badge and the Sword of Sacrifice.
Werribee MP Tim Pallas said that during WWI, Werribee was a “much smaller community” than it is nowadays, and the loss of 60 lives would have devastated the area.
“The contributions made by our brave veterans will never be forgotten and this memorial provides current and future generations with a space to reflect and pay their respect,” he said.
Wyndham mayor Mia Shaw said the memorial would be “a wonderful legacy” for Wyndham.
Werribee RSL sub-branch president, Daryl Ryan, thanked the sub-branch’s vice president David ‘Paddy’ McDiarmid and member Lyle Raison for their contributions to the memorial project.
Mr McDiarmid said that he would also like to thank David Manibod, projects engineer at VicRoads, for his assistance in putting the memorial together.
