NSW Nationals Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan is encouraging community groups and organisations to apply for funding to help preserve our military history.
Funding is now open under the Saluting Their Service Commemorative Grants Program. Mr Conaghan said more than $1 million will be provided to assist the successful applicants in completing projects and activities that commemorate our service personnel.
“We have a rich military history and many Australians have a grandparent, parent, sibling or relative who have served in our defence forces and have played a role in helping shape the nation,” Mr Conaghan said.
“By funding projects that safeguard our nation’s wartime heritage, we are ensuring generations to come have the opportunity to learn and connect with this service and sacrifice.”
Port Macquarie Museum successfully applied for a Saluting Their Service grant to fund the purchase of new display cabinets and mannequins to exhibit wartime memorabilia. Port Macquarie Historical Society president Clive Smith said the grant enabled the museum to purchase these sleek new models with enhanced capacity to replace our previous unreliable and out-dated computers.
The cabinets and mannequins are supporting a new exhibition at the Museum, World War II at Home and Abroad, which explores the impact of World War II on the local community and highlights the contributions of local people and local organisations to the war effort, both here and overseas.
“This grant has enabled us to place more our wartime collection on exhibit safely and securely, in this case, military uniforms,” Mr Smith said. “Our museum has an extensive collection of wartime memorabilia. This new exhibition puts a focus on World War II and associated local people, places and events, including stories of those who served, those who returned and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. As an independent community museum, grants like these are vital in supporting our ongoing work and mission of collecting, preserving, interpreting and sharing Port Macquarie and the Hastings region’s history and culture. We appreciate the support that we and our volunteers have had from the Federal Government through our local member over the past year.”
The Saluting Their Service program is designed to preserve our military history, promote an understanding and appreciation of the experiences of service personnel and involve people around the nation in a wide range of activities that honour the service and sacrifice of Australians.
Applications for Batch 3 of the 2020-21 Saluting Their Service Commemorative Grants Program close on February 11.
