PATRON: Major General B. W. (Hori) Howard AO MC ESM (Ret’d.)

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REMEMBERANCE DAY 2016
Our Association was well-represented at the official Remembrance Day service at Anzac Square in Brisbane. President Don laid a wreath before a large crowd that included the State Governor, the Premier, representatives of the various consulates in Brisbane and R.S.L officials. The Australian Army Band – Brisbane provided music for the ceremony.
The photos below are a record of the commemoration service in Brisbane.

Association President, Don Graham preparing to lay the Association wreath.	President Don moves forward to lay a wreath on behalf of the Association
Members attending: Kevin Smith, Kev Horton, Greg Ivey, Phil Adam, Don Graham, Ian Ogston, Greg Farr.	Members attending: Kevin Smith, Kev Horton, Greg Ivey, Phil Adam, Don Graham, Ian Ogston, Greg Farr.
Vice-President Greg Ivey places a poppy at the PIR plaque in Anzac Square	Association members (including President Don resplendent in red braces!!) refuel after a very hot morning.

INFORMATION UPDATE
Association office bearers took the opportunity of the lunch after the Remembrance Day ceremony to update the group on important information for our members. A summary of this information is included below for you:

1. Planning is underway for next year’s commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Kokoda Campaign. The first Service will be held at the Broadbeach (QLD) memorial on 8 August 2017. It is anticipated that this will be an Association Reunion as well as a Commemoration ceremony. More details will follow.
2. Melbourne Kokoda Commemoration: This Service will be held on 26 August 2017 and will be attended by our invited members as well as members of other Associations. All who expressed interest to the Association earlier will be personally invited to this Service
3. Kokoda Commemoration in PNG? It is possible that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs will follow past practice and send a small party of Veterans to PNG. Vice-President Greg Ivey is contacting DVA to find out their intentions for 2017.
4. Australian War Memorial: The AWM chooses a deceased Australian serviceman to be honoured at the daily Last Post ceremony at the memorial. July 23 was the date of the first action of the Kokoda Campaign by the PIB and Greg is to contact the AWM for their advice.
5. Website leader and Membership officer, Kevin Smith reports that our membership now stands at 104.
6. . Secretary/Treasurer, Kev Horton reports that our finances are at an acceptable level with $1300 in our account. Some of these funds are already committed e.g. to the Kokoda Anniversary Commemorations.
7. Pavers at the memorial at Broadbeach: The Secretary/Treasurer would like to hear from Members who would like a commemorative paver placed adjacent to the memorial to recognise the service of a relative in PNG during World War 2.
8. David Yardley: David was the designer and artist responsible for the Broadbeach memorial. He is now working on several statues to be added to this memorial. Our Association is proposing to recognise his outstanding contribution, especially to PIB and NGIB soldiers in World War 2.
9. Brisbane representative, Phil Adam attended the preliminary meeting of the 2017 Brisbane Anzac Day planning committee and reports that, at this early stage, next year should follow similar lines to the 2016 March. Forming-up areas may be different due to new construction work being carried out in that area.
10. New Flyers: Our Patron and Russ Wade have prepared a flyer that will be used to spread the word about our Association. (Several versions are available and the committee will make good use of these.) For your information, we have included one of the flyers to show you what has been done in this regard. Our thanks go to Patron Brian for taking this initiative for our Association. See below:

Editors: Ian Ogston ( ozoggies2@gmail.com ) and Greg Ivey ( iveygj@gmail.com)