Community & Business
7 August, 2024
Bikes, camera and action at Avenue of Honour
THE Yungaburra Afghanistan Avenue of Honour took centre stage last Wednesday when the Australian War Memorial filmed the site for a cinematic feature to mark the national institution’s current expansion.
To be shown at the opening of the Canberra Memorial’s new southern entrance at the end of this year, the film will be aired on a large screen highlighting memorials big and small, from across the country.
The Yungaburra memorial was selected from the national Places of Pride Register of War Memorials, which has recorded over 11,500 sites across Australia.
Members of the Cairns and Townsville chapters of the Patriots Australia Military Motorcycle Club added some action to the filming at the picturesque site.
“It was lovely - very green, a beautiful morning,” David “Robbo” Roberts said.
“The boys rode up and down the Avenue and a drone was used to get some aerial shots.”
The bikers, five of whom rode up from Cairns on the morning and six who travelled from Townsville the previous night, were included by the War Memorial because of the Patriots’ long-time support and fund-raising efforts for the Avenue of Honour.
Local group Friends of the Avenue also organised a small party to join former serviceman John Hardy OAM, at the beloved memorial.
“There was no fanfare, but it is always moving to be there,” Robbo said.
The Afghanistan Avenue of Honour was born out of love, following the funeral service for Afghanistan casualty Private Benjamin Chuck at Lake Tinaroo on 1 July 2010, at which more than 1000 people attended.
A subsequent speech by Mr Hardy at an Anzac Day ceremony in Yungaburra suggested the creation of a “living avenue of trees on the Tinaburra Peninsula to represent every digger we have lost in the Afghanistan Campaign”.
Benjamin Chuck’s parents Susan and Gordon then began the push to build Australia’s first living memorial to all who served in Afghanistan. For them, it was a way of pulling themselves out of the darkness of their son’s death.
“The impact of my son’s death whilst serving as a Commando in Afghanistan was profound and lasting and took me to a place so deep, so dark I struggled to surface anything like the person I was,” Gordon said last week. “Nothing can prepare you for such a blow, nothing can shield you from the aftermath.”
Their work brought an outstanding response from all levels of government, the Defence Force, state and regional RSL bodies, business and community groups and private and corporate sponsors to build the memorial.
Gordon also compiled a book about the Avenue and addressed a crowd of more than 1000 at this year’s Anzac Day memorial.
The Afghanistan Avenue of Honour was officially opened to a crowd of more than 5,000 in 2012.
