THE Cohuna RSL Memorial Garden project is nearing completion following the installation of a mural at the site.
Cohuna-Leitchville RSL sub-branch president Geoff Dale said the project aimed to honour the servicemen and women of Cohuna and district who served Australia in peace and war.
The mural is the latest instalment to take place at the memorial garden, which has been a work in progress since it began in 2015.
“It’s been a gradual thing to get it to this stage,” Mr Dale said.
The project came to fruition after the RSL recognised a need to better acknowledge the involvement of local residents and the sacrifices they made.
“We embarked on the project to better remember the servicemen and women of all wars and conflicts,” Mr Dale said.
Before the memorial garden project, the town only had one small memorial, honouring a small number of World War II servicemen.
Today, the garden features four separate memorials, acknowledging both world wars, the Vietnam conflict, as well as the smaller wars and peacekeeping efforts, including those in Boer War, Korea and Malaysia.
Mr Dale said the mural became a reality after the sub-branch gained funding under the Victoria Remembers grants program.
The RSL commissioned Victorian artist Tim Bowtell to take part in the project.
Mr Bowtell took six days to transform the blank wall into the breathtaking mural, which aimed to focus on the humanitarian aspect of human conflict.
Among those featured on the mural is Sister Elizabeth O’Reilly, who came from a farming family in Leitchville.
Enlisted in Cohuna in 1915 to serve in World War I, Sister O’Reilly was posted to Egypt, where she nursed returning wounded soldiers.
She later received a military commendation for her valuable services.
