ENTRENCHED NEGLECT OF WAR MEMORIALS

 Shipping  Reporter Expose

The  ongoing neglect of  war  memorials  in  the garrison  city of  Townsville continues.

Following  is  the shameful  pictorial  evidence  from  last  Friday afternoon .At the front of the North Queensland Remembrance Garden , the  metal lift  up lid  for the register of  those honoured  within  the  garden , bearing on top  the  names  Australian Government , Department of Veterans' Affairs  and  Office of  Australian War Graves , was obscured by muck, which was  on  the surrounds as   well.

Inside , the metal rings  holding the  pages  with  the  names and site information  were  rusty, one page showing signs of  breaking away . 

Many months ago, our Shipping Reporter   found  a  green   frog  inside the register.

A short distance away,  last Friday , at  the large Battle for the Coral Sea  Memorial (below) there  were assorted leaves  and  droppings from  surrounding trees , a  broken  plastic fork.  Details of  the  major  battle need  touching up  as  much of the  white  lettering   has  been  washed away  or  faded. 

Another  nearby  important  memorial (below) commemorating  the fierce 1945 battle  by Australians  launched  from landing craft  at Porton Plantation,  North Bougainville,  needed  a  clean  up  of  its  surrounds  . 

Even though the Victory in the Pacific Memorial Fountain did not appear to contain much rubbish, it seemed to have been reduced to a mere bubble bath (below)   not  the  exuberant , erupting  fount  of   the  past. 

At the same time , the fountain in the  Anzac Memorial Park , commemorating the  100th anniversary of Queensland breaking away from New South Wales  , appeared not to be working , its  water  looking  like a  weak  shade of  pea green . Just  recently, it exploded regularly  in   multi-coloured  streams.