Winchelsea memorial restored, upgraded

A CENTURY-old part of Winchelsea’s history has received a $103,945 upgrade that has provided more functional clubroom space for the town’s RSL sub-branch.

RSL members have called the rooms at the Eastern Reserve’s Winchelsea and District Soldiers’ Memorial 1914-1918 grandstand home for just over 100 years, after having built the community memorial with the support of the former Winchelsea Shire Council.

The Winchelsea and District Soldiers’ Memorial 1914-1918 grandstand is more than 100 years old.

It is one of the few “living” war memorials in Victoria, with one of the others being the Great Ocean Road.

Originally completed in 1923 but not opened until October 1925, the grandstand building is heritage-listed and architecturally significant, considered to be the most substantial public building in Australia built using the Knitlock construction method designed and patented by architect Walter Burley Griffin in 1917.

Upgrading was significant, and included:

Expansion of the library, museum and work space

Installation of a doorway opening connecting rooms

Construction of a new entry ramp, increasing accessibility to the building

Installation of downlighting highlighting the building façade

Repairs to windows and doors, and

Internal and external painting.

The upgrade in the building has provided more functional clubroom space for the town’s RSL sub-branch.

Contributions to the jointly funded project came from the Victorian government’s Department of Families, Fairness and Housing via the Victorian Veterans Capital Works Program 2023-2024 ($49,728), Winchelsea RSL Sub-Branch ($10,000 in-kind contribution), the Surf Coast Shire ($37,487) and the Eastern Reserve Community Asset Committee ($6,730).

Community members joined sub-branch members and project partners for the formal opening of the completed project and dedication of the rooms on Friday last week.

Speakers at the event included Winchelsea RSL president Graham Kenafacke, then-shire mayor Mike Bodsworth, RSL Victoria senior vice president Des Callahan and Walter Burley Griffin Society member Steven Barlow.

“This building is a direct link to many people with their loved ones who didn’t come home,” Mr Kenafacke said.

“It’s true there are many memorials in Australia, and the tyranny of distance isn’t as bad in those days, but many of the widows and mothers of these veterans never got to see where their loved ones were interred, and that’s particularly sad.”

He said the Winchelsea RSL was working on a project to recognise all the veterans interred at the Winchelsea Cemetery, with a finish date before Anzac Day 2026.