RSL’s Remembrance Day field of crosses damaged by vandals
Police have moved in to watch over thousands of Remembrance Day memorial crosses in the Adelaide CBD that have been repeatedly stolen and vandalised.
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Police have moved in to guard thousands of memorial crosses which have been repeatedly vandalised in the past week.
RSL commemorations manager Keith Harrison said police had arrived at the lawns near Adelaide’s National War Memorial on Tuesday morning, and vowed to protect the crosses until Remembrance Day.
Police said they arrested three men about 1.30am on Tuesday – one from Alice Springs, 46, one from Pukatja in the APY Lands, 23, and one of no fixed address, 19.
Mr Harrison witnessed men and women using the crosses as weapons on Monday night and had intervened in an attempt to retrieve the stolen property.
The long-time RSL official said police moved the people on, but before long “the mob” had returned. “There are some bad troublemakers amongst them,” Mr Harrison said.
The spate of vandal attacks which have left dozens of memorial crosses damaged, stolen or ripped out from an annual Remembrance Day display.
Military veterans and schoolchildren have planted the thousands of white crosses near the National War Memorial on North Terrance in the lead-up to Remembrance Day for generations, paying tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the field of battle.
Mr Harrison said the crosses had been targeted by vandals regularly in previous years, but this year was the worst he had experienced. The crosses have been damaged five times in the past nine days.
Mr Harrison discovered the third batch of vandalism on Monday morning when he arrived at the site to check on progress of Adelaide City Council construction work nearby. By 6pm, crosses planted by St Aloysius students only hours earlier had also been ripped out. More crosses were damaged or stolen when he arrived at the site again on Tuesday morning.
“When I saw it this morning, I don’t know, I just lost it,” Mr Harrison said. “All these crosses were pushed over and broken. Why do we bother.”
“I’m just really disappointed and angry.”
Mr Harrison said the vandals obviously did not understand the culture or significance of the crosses, most of which include a small plaque bearing the name of a soldier who was killed in action.
He said the vandals were very disrespectful and needed to find something better to do with their lives.
Students from schools including Woodcroft College, St Peters Woodlands College, St Aloysius College, Scotch College and Mitcham Primary have gradually planted the crosses in the lawns near the memorial since November 1.
The Field of Remembrance includes racks of 10 joined, smaller crosses, which honour individual soldiers, and larger crosses which pay tribute to regiments, battalions or units.
The vandals also stole a large wooden cross which pays homage to Polish soldiers, and damaged other crosses planted in memory of Poles who died for the Allied cause.
“When we first started (this tradition) it used to be the Second World War vets who would come in and watch us put out their mates’ names – so it was important to them and therefore it became important to us,” Mr Harrison said.
“It’s a good visual symbol and I think it’s probably unique in Australia to get so many put out.”
RSL SA president Cheryl Cates told breakfast radio this morning: “It is just pure, absolute disrespectful and vandalism of our war dead... of remembrance to our people who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. It’s just disgraceful.”
A spokesperson said police were investigating the property damage and urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. She said serious penalties including imprisonment applied for property damage.
