Much publicity is being given in Townsville to the looming celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific. The Townsville Bulletin, for example , ran a front page story about four women who served in the Australian Women's Army Service in World War ll , which announced the paper would run a special VP70 feature on Saturday , August 15 to mark the major event. Just up the road from the newspaper at the Railway Oval is the Victory Fountain VP5O , lettering badly faded or missing , making it hard to read . Another plaque (above) says the oval was reopened as part of the VP50 celebrations in 1995.
Little Darwin recently reported the fountain was not working properly;it now is . Excavations about the fountain area for Optus and Telstra have produced uneven paths at the busy intersection making it look as if hostilities have resumed in the Pacific. Adjacent to the fountain is a civic trail information sign which is faded , hard to read , plastic cladding torn and flapping in the breeze when we last looked .
