![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/PlaquetheftDarley_59690-1.jpeg\")
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“We want to do it sooner rather than later and we will have to do it better than before,” he said.<\/p>\n
Moorabool Shire councillor Sheila Freeman said the thefts represent “a total lack of respect”.<\/p>\n
“Sure it’s going to cost money to replace them, but it’s more the complete disrespect in taking them,” she said.<\/p>\n
“They’re put there for a reason, honouring residents who have actually gone to war.<\/p>\n
“They’re the people who have fought for the country and it’s like – ‘we’ll just take this, who cares, and flog it off and get some money for it’.<\/p>\n
“It’s not just those who have been in the conflicts, it’s the relatives as well. It means something to the community. It’s a complete disrespect.”<\/p>\n
Bacchus Marsh RSL secretary Iris Roberts confirmed that the RSL sub-branch will likely now be left to investigate grant availability to replace the plaque missing from the Darley Camp site, which falls within its purview.<\/p>\n
“We’ll have to put in submissions for grants,” Ms Roberts said.<\/p>\n
She said it was not clear exactly when the plaques had been ripped from their monuments in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
“You see it and you think it just seems a lack of respect,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It’s not just here. It is definitely becoming more prevalent.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A TOTAL lack of respect is the way in which the theft of brass war memorial plaques from sites in the Moorabool Shire is being described. Residents and RSL members recently became aware of the theft of the war memorial plaque from the Coimadai memorial site in the Southern Rural Water picnic ground, with another […]<\/p>\n