Murgon RSL Sub Branch

29/04/2026

Murgon Remembers In Style.
https://southburnett.com.au/news2/2026/04/28/murgon-remembers-in-style/

27/04/2026

Everry photo - every story is important. Contact us you would like more information on how to contribute your stories. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1000693405720290

22/04/2026

20/03/2026

The voices of the veteran and defence community have been heard.

A Senate Inquiry has been announced into the Government’s plan to divest 67 Defence estate sites.

Thank you to the thousands who signed the RSL Australia petition. While a petition to launch a Senate Inquiry is no longer required, the work is far from over.

We are now entering the next critical phase: preparing RSL Australia’s submission to the Inquiry.

We will be calling on the Government to:
▪ justify its divestment decisions
▪ align its plans with Australia’s defence needs
▪ address transition arrangements
▪ assess the suitability of each site
▪ be transparent about projected returns
▪ fully consider community and veteran connections.

Show your support - Visit our website to add your name to strengthen the submission and subscribe to stay informed via the President’s Newsletter. You can also contribute your views to help shape our submission.

🔗 https://www.rslaustralia.org/petition

19/02/2026

Today marks the 84th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin.

19 February 1942 would be for Australia – just as 7 December 1941 was for the United States – a date that would live in infamy.

It was the first attack by a foreign power on Australian soil.

Gone was the false sense of security derived from the tyranny of distance – for distance had not deterred tyranny.

Some 240 Imperial Japanese bombers and fighters carried out two air raids.

The first occurred just before 10 am; the second close to midday.

The enemy’s goals were to knock out Darwin as an Allied base and to strike fear into the hearts of Australians.

Ships were sunk. Buildings were obliterated. Darwin was devastated. More than 250 people were tragically killed.

The Bombing of Darwin was the first of many Imperial Japanese air raids across the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland – but none was as devastating or as deadly as that of 19 February 1942.

Today, we remember all those who were killed and the many acts of gallantry that took place in Darwin’s darkest hours.

As we look upon the brilliant city of Darwin today, we remind ourselves of the stoicism that defines the Australian spirit.

A stoicism that helps us endure tragedy and prevail over evil.

A stoicism that enables us to renew from ruin.

A stoicism that reinforces the need for vigilance.

Lest we forget.

19/02/2026

Mainland Australia came under attack for the first time on 19 February 1942 when Japan bombed Darwin. Hundreds of bombs were dropped on the city in two separate air raids, killing more than 250 Allied service personnel and civilians.

The first raid destroyed buildings and several ships, while the second raid targeted the Royal Australian Air Force base. It was widely believed at the time the attack was a precursor to invasion, and around half of the city’s population fled southwards.

The bombing of Darwin remains the largest attack ever launched by a foreign power on Australia. Today we remember the service members and and civilians who courageously defended Darwin during the attack and those who lost their lives.

📸 Australian War Memorial | Oil tanks on fire during the battle of Darwin

16/02/2026

“Chin up, girls, I’m proud of you, and I love you all.” These were the final words of Matron Irene Drummond on 16 February 1942, moments before 22 Australian nurses were marched into the sea and Japanese soldiers opened fire on them.

This atrocity, known as the Bangka Island Massacre, followed the bombing of the SS Vyner Brooke. There were 65 nurses on board fleeing the Fall of Singapore, treating wounded servicemen and civilians when it was bombed.

Many drowned at sea under aerial fire; the survivors who washed ashore were forced to surrender. Despite the horror, one nurse, Vivian Bullwinkel, miraculously survived to tell their story.

Their bravery is currently being honoured in the stage production 21 Hearts: Vivian Bullwinkel and the Nurses of the Vyner Brooke. After seeing it in Canberra last year, we highly recommend catching it on its national tour. More information can be found here: https://www.rslaustralia.org/latest-news/21-hearts-vivian-bullwinkel-and-the-nurses-of-the-vyner-brooke

Today, we honour the women who served others until the very end. Lest we forget.

16/02/2026

Today we honour the memory of 21 Australian Army nurses who were murdered in the Bangka Island massacre during World War II. They were evacuating Singapore aboard the SS Vyner Brooke with wounded Allied servicemen and civilians when the ship was bombed by Japanese planes on 15 February 1942.

Around 150 survivors swam to Bangka Island and surrendered to Japanese troops the following day. The men were killed and 22 Australian nurses, and one British civilian woman, were forced to wade into the sea. The Japanese soldiers then shot them.

Sister Vivian Bullwinkel was the only nurse who survived. She was shot in the abdomen and lay in the water until the Japanese left. She hid for several days but eventually surrendered and became a prisoner of war.

Bullwinkel survived three years of captivity in a POW camp. She later gave evidence of the massacre at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal.

📷 Defence Australia | Nursing Officers holding portraits of those killed in the Bangka Island massacre

14/02/2026

Today we commemorate the fall of Singapore. Australia deployed most of its forces to fight in Europe and North Africa at the start of World War II, leaving Singapore vulnerable to attack. The Japanese Imperial Army invaded the island on 8 February 1942 and seized control from Allied forces after several days of intense fighting. On 15 February, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, Commander of the British Empire forces in Malaya, officially surrendered to Japan.

More than 22,000 Australians became prisoners of war when Singapore fell. They were held in camps across the region, with many forced to work in brutal conditions on the notorious Burma-Thailand Railway. Approximately 7,000 Australian POWs did not survive to see the end of the war.

Lest we forget.

📷 Australian War Memorial | Allied prisoners of war working on the Burma-Thailand Railway in 1943.

14/02/2026

15 February 1942 will always be one of the darkest days in Australia’s wartime history.

It was the day that Singapore fell to the Imperial Japanese Army, and more than 15,000 Australian soldiers became prisoners of war.

Of these, more than 7,000 did not make it home.

Today, we remember the people whose lives were forever altered on that day.

Lest we forget.

📷 British and Australian prisoners of war captured at the fall of Singapore and transported to Korea on the Japanese prison ship Fukkai Maru are shown marching through the streets of Fusan after their arrival at that port.

13/02/2026

Today marks the 75th anniversary of National Service (1951-1972).

We honour the more than 280,000 young men who were called up for national service, and remember the more than 200 who died on active service overseas, as well as others who died while serving in Australia.

To mark the anniversary, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs will hold a National Commemorative Service at 11.00 am AEDT in the Great Hall at Australian Parliament House, Canberra. The service will be streamed online and broadcast nationally by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 🔗 Learn more: https://brnw.ch/21wZW6a

At the Australian War Memorial, today’s Last Post Ceremony will share the story of Signalman Alexander Henry Young, a national serviceman who served with 104 Signal Squadron in Vietnam in 1968. He was killed in action two weeks before his 22nd birthday.

▶️ Watch live on YouTube at 4.30 pm AEDT: https://brnw.ch/21wZW6b

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📸 Image: National servicemen march past at their passing out parade at Holsworthy, 11 April 1954. Photographer: Harold Vaughan Dunkley. DUN/54/0257/EC