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Returned & Services Le
ANZAC House, Torrens T
Victoria Drive, Adelaide S
Telephone: 08 8100 730
www.rslsa.org.au
Major funding injection for RSL Virtual War Memorial
The RSL’s biggest ‘Centenary of ANZAC’ project is about to get bigger still. The Virtual War
Memorial – the online memorial that can be seen by anyone, anywhere – is receiving a major
funding injection in a strategy aimed at increasing its education outreach.
The memorial’s potential audience will grow spectacularly from tomorrow (Tuesday, June 2)
when Premier Jay Weatherill announces a four-year $780,000 SA Government support project.
The money will fund a learning partnership between the SA Education Department and the RSL.
“This funding will allow students to contribute to the site in a way that’s linked to their studies –
especially in fields of curricula like History, and Civics and Citizenship,” Mr Weatherill said.
“For instance, they’ll be able to research topics, write material and load it on to the site for all to
see. Their school can establish its own ‘page’ on the site and – just as an example – publish
profiles of former students of the school who lost their lives in battle.
“This work will be properly structured and moderated, and it will be supervised by a nominated
teacher in each student group. Besides supporting the website itself, the funding will also pay for
a part-time teacher who will visit schools and help students use the Virtual War Memorial.
“This new program allows secondary students to study Australia’s involvement in every major
international conflict – from the Boer War, before we were even a nation, right up to the present
day.”
Developed by the RSL’s South Australian and Northern Territory branch, the Virtual War
Memorial website has ‘personalised’, through an ever-growing collection of online biographies
and records, the names inscribed on conventional memorials. This ground-breaking project has
four key objectives:
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Education: a web-based resource and repository for schools studying Australia’s
involvement in conflict from the Boer War to the present day.
Commemoration: linking with physical memorials and perpetuating forever the stories
contained by them.
Community engagement: the capacity to reach into all communities, adding a life story
to the names at present inscribed in bronze, slate, and stone.
Accessibility: the technology enables users to interact with the site anytime and
anywhere – in a classroom or a library, at a graveside or on a battlefield pilgrimage.
The Virtual War Memorial supplies links to other sources, building rich and informative character
studies that can be read online.
It also offers the opportunity for Australians everywhere to tell their family histories of military
service. In just eight months of operation, it has already listed 500,000 records on its supporting
database – and, on ANZAC Day this year, attracted 18,000 hits.
Returned & Services League of Australia (SA Branch) Inc
ANZAC House, Torrens Training Depot, Victoria Drive, Adelaide South Australia 5000
Telephone 08 8100 7300 Email admin@rslsa.org.au www.rslsa.org.au
The project is headed by the RSL (SA/NT) deputy president, Colonel Steve Larkins. “The RSL
Virtual War Memorial is at the leading edge of communication – a great example of South
Australian creativity, innovation and determination,” he says. “Now we have a wonderful
opportunity to engage and educate younger generations with this resource, and the integration
of the site into the school curriculum will soon be a reality.”
As Brigadier Tim Hanna, RSL (SA/NT) president, puts it: “This commitment of funding allows us to
deliver on the education pillar of our promise. It was always our vision to make the RSL Virtual
War Memorial a key education asset accessible to all, and we are now very close to achieving this
with a learning partnership that takes our project into South Australian secondary schools.”
Brigadier Hanna added that public donations would be of critical importance as well, to support
the ongoing technological lifeblood that drives the initiative.
Media identity Graham Cornes, a Vietnam veteran, will add his support – at tomorrow’s launch –
to the $780,000 education project. Further support is found in a television commercial fronted
by Ben Roberts-Smith VC, who has been an RSL Virtual War Memorial ambassador since April
2014.
All round, this new partnership strengthens the RSL’s capacity to engage productively with young
Australians as the nation’s leading ex-service organisation heads towards its own centenary in
2016.
Launch: June 2 2015 (8.30am – 10.00am)
Where: McLachlan Room, Western Stand, Adelaide Oval
Who: Hon. Jay Weatherill MP (SA Premier), Brigadier Tim Hanna (RSL President),
Colonel Steve Larkins (RSL Deputy President), Graham Cornes (Vietnam Veteran and media
identity), students from Le Fevre High School.
Media Contact: Darren Adamson (RSL – SA/NT) – 0404 077 634