Historic battle to be remembered

THE Air Force Association Ballarat Branch is remembering the Battle for Australia this weekend.

The 2022 Battle for Australia Weekend is an acknowledgment of the servicepeople who fought against and pushed back Japanese attacks from 1942 to 1945, and will be marked this Saturday, 27 and Sunday, 28 August.

A series of World War Two battles, events, deployments, skirmishes, raids and actions, the Battle for Australia saw the nation’s army, navy and air force have a presence in the Coral Sea, Kokoda, Bismarck Sea, Milne Bay, Darwin and beyond.

AFA Ballarat Branch president Noel Hutchins said a planned commemorative service which was to be held at the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Lake Wendouree on Sunday has been cancelled, but their sold-out Pacific Ball at Brown Hill Hall on Saturday night will go ahead.

“The service was to remember those who gave their lives, and honour and acknowledge all those who took part in our Battle for Australia against the invading Japanese forces with our war in the Pacific, in our own waters, on our own land and in the air during World War Two,” he said.

Proceedings were set to begin with an aircraft flyover at 11am.