History comes alive at RSL
THE memorabilia display at Tewantin-Noosa RSL is widely regarded as the best on the Sunshine Coast.
When you walk into the foyer, there is a bank of stately floor-to-ceiling wooden and glass cabinets housing memorabilia.
Each cabinet covers a different era or topic: World War I, World War II, Asia, modern conflicts, and weapons, plus many other pieces of memorabilia dotted throughout the club such as photos and framed medal collections.
One of the most impressive aspects of this collection is that it includes items from World War I right through to the modern conflicts such as Afghanistan.
It also has items from all three armed services - Navy, Air Force and Army.
There are some real treasures to be found in the priceless collection, some of the prized pieces including former RSL president Bruce Ruxton's medals, an extremely rate German-made gun barrel captured from the Turks in World War I and a collection from Brigadier General Grant, who took the Turkish Surrender and led part of the famous charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba in 1917.
Brigadier-General Grant's memorabilia includes his medal set, dog tags and a framed sketch which link to other items held by the Australian War Memorial and National Library.
But perhaps the most valuable aspect of the collection is the actual stories behind the items.
For example, there is a wonderful sketch of a nurse, Sister C. Murie, administering care to a patient in a hospital tent in Borneo during World War II. The sketch was done by another patient in the hospital.
The new display was put together under the auspices of the Tewantin-Noosa RSL Sub-branch memorabilia officer, Rob Wareing.
"The purpose of the collection is to preserve for posterity the records of the deeds and sacrifices of our veteran brothers and sisters," he said.
"It is so important for us to pass the stories on through the generations and we have many comments about how wonderful it is that we have put so much effort and time into our collection.
"There are always people stopping at the cabinets and reading about all the different conflicts and stories."
