The latest plaque for the Kingscliff RSL Memorial Walk was unveiled off Murphy’s Road last week but, unlike the others forming the memorial, it didn’t mark a battle or conflict from yester-year.
Instead, the plaque, prepared by students at Kingscliff High, honoured the efforts of those currently serving in Afghanistan.
It was a battle brought far too close to home to the local students over the past two years with the death first of Private Nathan Bewes of Murwillumbah in July, 2010 and then, at this time last year, when one of their own, former Kingscliff High student Sapper Rohan Robinson was killed on June 6 last year.
The plaque was dedicated by Kingscliff High principal Allen Tolley at a ceremony run by the RSL in conjunction with the Wommin Bay Nursing Home, Department of Veterans Affairs and the council.
The research work and design was completed by the school’s Year Nine History Endeavours Class last year with Caitlan Davis, Cassie Francisco and Elisa Cowell, from the group, on hand to witness the unveiling.
The girls’ wars had always seemed far away in history but this conflict, although on the other side of the world, had been brought close to home by the loss of Rohan Robinson.
“He went to our school and now he has died in Afghanistan,” Caitlan said. She said it was a wake-up call about the true nature of war and loss.
The plaque is the latest in a long program by the RSL and the local nursing home to provide a Memorial Walk, out to a viewing platform, for nursing home and local residents to enjoy. The first bank of the memorial is now finished. The RSL has been working with local schools for several years now to prepare suitable tributes to those battles fought by Australians and to those who fought in them.
