Shrine tour expo to visit Casey

By Callan Date
WE will remember them.
Casey Council is acting upon that stirring line in its true sense with a touring version of The Shrine of Remembrance set to grace Casey.
Following on from record attendance at the city’s Anzac Day service last month, councillor Kevin Bradford moved a motion at last week’s council meeting to have the tour stationed at Cranbourne.
Cr Bradford said the exhibition would be of great benefit to touring school students as well as other interested residents.
“A very important piece of history of Victoria will be brought here to Casey,” Cr Bradford said.
He said the tour is currently booked out for the next two years and Casey was fortunate to be allocated a spot, from mid-November to mid-January, after another city pulled out.
The tour will include a detailed history of The Shrine of Remembrance, including the debate surrounding the establishment of the iconic Melbourne building back in the late ’20s.
Cr Bradford said it had to be placed within Cranbourne as Cranbourne RSL members had volunteered to work at the exhibition.
He said the new Balla Balla Centre would be an ideal location.
However, questions were raised as to the new venue’s ability to hold such an event.
It was also suggested at the meeting that schools could use The Shrine of Remembrance tour as the first stop of a two-part excursion also taking in Casey’s Road Safety Education Centre.
The $390,000 Cranbourne facility, complete with a classroom, is a mini version of Victorian roads, with school crossings and street signs that enable children to practise their road safety skills without the danger of vehicles.
Getting the Shrine’s travelling exhibition to visit Casey is one of many events held in Casey honouring wartime sacrifices.
Anzac Day services were held at Endeavour Hills, Cranbourne and Narre Warren and Diggers visited several schools to talk to students in the lead-up to the special day.
Upgrades to Casey’s cenotaphs and war memorials have also taken place over the last 18 months.
The Endeavour Hills War Memorial recently underwent a $4000 facelift as part of a Federal Government funding allocation.
And $3000 was recently allocated for the new Narre Warren North Soldier Settlement Memorial Garden.