WA: Veterans receive lock from Changi and $500,000 cheque

AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2005
WA: Veterans receive lock from Changi and $500,000 cheque

PERTH, April 21 AAP - With Anzac Day near, veterans in Western Australia are the latest
to be presented with a lock from the infamous Changi prison where 15,000 Australians were
held during World War II.

At a ceremony in Perth's Kings Park today, representatives of the Singapore Tourism
Board presented a lock from the prison to the WA branch of the Returned and Services League
(RSL).

Similar ceremonies have also been held or are scheduled in Canberra, Sydney Melbourne,
Adelaide and Brisbane.

In Perth handover, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in the
Asia-Pacific, was followed by the presentation of almost $500,000 towards a major refurbishment
of the RSL headquarters in Perth.

The funds, provided by the state government from lottery proceeds, were handed over
by state Treasurer Eric Ripper to help the revamp of Anzac House in central Perth.

They will go towards a facelift of the reception areas, meeting rooms and the boardroom,
and towards improving disabled facilities in the headquarters built in 1981.

President of the WA RSL, Bill Gaynor, said while the lock was of great significance
to war veterans, the money would go towards remembering their service for many years to
come.

"We have been in this premises for many years, and the refurbishment will further assist
us provide services to our veteran community," Mr Gaynor said.

Meanwhile, a group of 14 WA high school students selected in a speech-writing competition
that attracted 700 entries, today flew out to Greece where they will celebrate Anzac Day
with Premier Geoff Gallop.

The students, many of whom had relatives who fought in The Great War and World War
II, will also visit Crete, where a Perth regiment was captured during WW II, and commemorate
lives lost in the Gallipoli campaign at a war cemetery on Lemnos Island, 110 km from the
infamous battlefield.

Duncraig Senior High School student Anna Hayward-Rowling, 16, said she was proud to
be given the chance to honour the memory of her great-grandfather and grandfather, who
saw active service in WW I and WW II respectively.

"I think it will be (a meaningful) gathering with other youths from WA and being able
to go over there and show people that the Anzac spirit is still alive in us and still
a part of Australian culture," she said.

"We are proud of these people, we are proud of what they did and we are proud to be Australian."

In an earlier ceremony, NSW RSL president Don Rowe said the lock presentations also
raised awareness of the Australian effort in Singapore.

"I think at times we've focused more on (other events within the Asia Pacific), which
in themselves are significant and should not be forgotten, but Changi has been overshadowed."

"Singapore was the last stand. It really was a major threat to

Australia, New Zealand, (and) Timor once Singapore fell."

AAP tc/hn/cjh/sd

KEYWORD: ANZAC WA

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.