There is no more deserving group to be remembered than the Anzacs.
It is those men and women of Australia and New Zealand who gave the ultimate sacrifice in time of conflict and war.
And there have been enough of them
To help preserve their memory, The Friendly Bay Islander has donated the funds to that terrific group of island blokes, the ‘Renegade’s to construct an appropriate seat that will help provide a place to reflect about those who gave so much.
The Renegades have made several seats around the islands, as has Ted Upton with his seats.
The seat we have commissioned is to be placed in Koonwarra Foreshore Park which is situated on the waterfront at the corner of Koonwarra Parade and Morwong Street.
It will provide a comfortable location from which to observe the beautiful views across the waters to Stradbroke Island.
As with most of the seats built by ‘The Renegades’ it utilises recycled island hardwood.
The seat back has engraving by island resident Jude Fernandez saying ‘Lest We Forget’ on the rear face with ’Celebrating the Anzac Spirit’ on the front face with a beautiful plaque created by local Jan de Rooy in the centre.
It is planned for the seat to be installed by Tuesday 18th. April.
Because the Renegades get together on Tuesdays only and the work is quite labour intensive, the build time can be spread over 6-8 weeks.
The ‘Anzac’ seat will be the eighth built by the group with the additional ‘Railway’ seat adjacent to Club Macleay being another that they enhanced and installed.
Due to the significance of the Anzacs and their sacrifice and contribution to creating the Australian spirit the members of the Renegades are feeling the importance of this particular seat.
The Renegades are a group of retired senior men who get together each Tuesday to perform various tasks for the community’s benefit. While these tasks create a unique purpose in their lives the group also enables them to enjoy special camaraderie and mutual support.
Their efforts with the ‘Scenic Seats’ program are financially assisted by community fund raiser Michele Newton’s Hi Tea Gals, local clubs, associations and individuals.
They are grateful to Redland City Council for being part of a positive partnership to create special places at scenic spots on the Heritage and Recreation Trail and adjacent to the kayak launch locations. Council provides all approvals for the seats and the cement for the footings.
It is hoped that the program will include a further five seats bringing the total number of ‘Scenic Seats’ located around the island to in excess of twenty.
This includes those constructed by Ted Upton and others installed by Council.
Lindsay Hackett’s excellent ‘Heritage and Recreation Trail map’ has just been upgraded to include seat locations and kayak launch spots and will hopefully be distributed by the Macleay Island Progress Association in the near future.
The Renegades hope that all island residents explore the Trail, discover the seats’ locations and have the reality confirmed that we are fortunate to live in a beautiful place.
As for the Island Anzacs and working through this process, the Friendly Bay Islander has made an important discovery.
It appears no island sub branch has a list of island residents who have served and died in service to their country.
As a result we have contacted the Queensland RSL, the Australian War Memorial, and the Australia Archives to come up with a list to be made available to all island RSL sub branches so they can be suitably recorded and honoured.
