Without its own RSL sub branch, a group of Campbell Town residents decided to come together to spread responsibilities in the lead up to the centenary of World War I.

The Campbell Town Anzac Group now comprises 12 members and chairman Peter Evans says it is further building its foundations.

“It’s growing too, we’ve got a lot of interested parties and everyone pulls in their different expertise,” Mr Evans said.

“It’s taken the burden from one man and spread it.”

The group formed in 2013 with the importance of the First World War centenaries firmly in mind. Prior to that, services in the town had been essentially organised by one man, Warren Clarke – a Vietnam veteran himself – with the help of the Longford RSL.

“The guy who had done it for all those years since the 70s, Warren Clarke, is still in our group. He’s great for advice,” Mr Evan said.

“He took over responsibility for the services in the 70s – they used to have the breakfast at his house.”

Many veterans of both World Wars would attend in those days, Mr Evan recalled. “I as a younger man had attended some of those.”

The Campbell Town RSL closed and combined with the Ross sub branch many years ago, Mr Evans said.

With a team of people now working together since the establishment of the group, the community has seen Remembrance Day services return to the town – like the centenary of Armistice event on Sunday.

“The first two years fell in school time so it was basically an extension of the school service and they had the whole school here,” Mr Evans said.

“The last two it’s been in holidays, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised with the amount of people that have turned up.”

The history of Australia’s military engagement’s over the past century runs deep in Mr Evans’ family, and Campbell Town itself.

“On the Evans side in the Second World War my grandfather’s brother Sid Evans – who is on the cenotaph, S.K. Evans – was among the Doomed Battalion, the 40th Battalion that were all taken hostage by the Japanese,” he said.

“A lot of men from this town were in that Battallion – the 2nd 40th.”

A redevelopment, to separate the cenotaph area from the memorial ground car park, will soon make the space to honour those and the many others from the community who have served a little more sacred.

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