Tuesday, 10 March, 2026
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Another plaque pinched Matilda Amy Sayer, with Lilydale resident Neil Milton’s message behind her . (James D. Morgan/Getty Images)
By Callum Ludwig Another year, another war memorial targeted in the Outer East. A plaque at Lillydale Lake has recently been stolen, which enlightens locals about the history of the site as a military camp. Local historian Anthony McAleer OAM said the Lilydale RSL were alerted to the theft by the Yarra Ranges Council’s gardening team. “It’s extremely disappointing and really quite devastating, it’s one thing to have graffiti, it’s one thing to have damage; some of those things you can replace, but to have it actually stolen is probably the worst scenario that we’re dealing with,” he said. “It’s well beyond a joke in regards to this area, I think this is probably about 10 or 11 attacks in regards to what’s happened locally with war memorials.” The Lilydale Militia camp took place in February 1914, a few months before the First World War started, and was commanded by Colonel John Monash, a significant event
in his pre-war military career. The plaque was unveiled 100 years after the camp took place by Michael Bennett, great grandson of Sir John Monash. Lilydale RSL President Bill Dobson said he regards it as dishonourable in the extreme to use war memorials as a platform for either protesting or the theft of plaques. “Years ago this never would have happened, but there’s a lot of things happening today that wouldn’t happen years ago, so we can only hope that it would be the deterrent,” he said. “It desecrates the memory of those who were served and sacrificed to protect the freedom of all Australians, it’s just so important that you just cannot destroy part of Australia’s history and they should pay the penalties for doing so.”
Lilydale local’s message makes it to Matildas By Callum Ludwig Ahead of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, a number of inspiring messages were passed onto the Matildas from around the country, including one from a Lilydale local. Neil Milton, whose daughter Grace is a huge Tillies fan, was one of 16 fans from across the country whose messages were written on a giant football to be read by the team, arranged by insurance company Allianz. Mr Milton suffered from significant knee injuries, told by doctors he might not be able to play sport again, but said there were times he felt like giving up but wanted to see if he could get back to running and possibly play-
ing basketball. “Sport has always been something I love doing and to be told it’s over completely, I felt destroyed,” he said. “There were some dark moments in the gym, I can tell you that, the desire to keep going came from seeing little bits of progress, I felt like I had a team behind me. “I knew I had it in me and now look at this, I have just done 260 Parkruns, I did a halfmarathon a few years ago and I am back playing basketball for two teams, and the most important privilege is playing basketball with my son.” More on page 4
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