PLENTY of cupboards and cabinets were explored as Wangaratta RSL members sorted out pieces of their sub-branch’s history earlier this year.
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“We came across what we thought was just a bit of a cleaning rag,” memorabilia and memorials officer Jim Cozens said.
Luckily, staff members from Victorian Collections, the cataloguing system for Museums Australia (Victoria), were also present.
“We laid it all out with the museum people and they said, ‘Oh you’ve really got something here’,” Mr Cozens said.
Now Wangaratta RSL has received funding for this “cleaning rag”, which turned out to be an Italian flag captured during the World War II battle of El Alamein. The federal government grant of $2528, under the Saluting Their Service program, will restore and frame the flag.
Mr Cozens said writing on the flag indicated it had been captured by the 2/24th battalion, the local unit.
“So we’re trying to trace back the signatures now,” he said. “It’s a little bit shabby, that’s why we’re getting it restored and having it done professionally.”
Victorian Collections manager Cameron Auty wrote a letter to support the sub-branch’s efforts to preserve the flag.
“We believe that this object is highly significant and worthy of receiving grant money for conservation,” Mr Auty said. “The sub-branch have conducted significant preliminary research and the associated individuals are very passionate about seeing the flag conserved and framed ready for display.”
This project is only part of Wangaratta RSL’s larger goal, assisted by Victorian Collections, to create a digital record of its memorabilia.
Over 10 days in February, Mr Auty and his colleague Frances Paterson worked with sub-branch members, providing training and cataloguing support, supplying iPads and photography equipment and buying materials and tools for labelling, cataloguing and rehousing items.
Mr Cozens said documenting the collection was “quite a task”.
“We’ve got 600-odd items,” he said. “To do the research on each one is quite significant. What we are trying to do is put the history of either the object, the photographs or the people involved.”
In fact, Museums Australia (Victoria) told the sub-branch it had been nominated for an award of excellence, to be judged in July.
The Wangaratta RSL members benefited from working with the museum professionals and their understanding of the pieces.
“Where we’d look at it as a bit of rag, it’s really something of military, historical significance to them,” Mr Cozens said.
