A HISTORY OF BOWRAL RSL SUB-BRANCH

On 14 November 1919, Bowral and Mittagong returned servicemen met in a combined meeting at Bowral Town Hall, with over 40 in attendance, to complete the inauguration of a local branch of the Returned Sailors & Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA).

Mr John A Lucas JP, general organiser of the NSW branch, was present as Chairman and delivered a  lengthy address dealing with the aims and objects of the League. Mr E Turley, acting secretary, explained that two preliminary meetings had so far been held. Mr Lucas said he was glad to see steps being taken to form a local sub-branch of the League which was out to fight for the welfare of returned men, especially for those least able to fight for their own interests. From a small beginning, the League then had about 88,000 members and 180 sub-branches in NSW alone. He emphasised that the League was non-political and non-sectarian, and he hoped it would always retain those qualifications.

Nattai District Sub-Branch

After the enrolment of members, it was unanimously decided to form a sub-branch of the RSSILA to be known as Nattai District Sub-Branch. The following officials were elected: President, Verton Bruce Smith; Vice-Presidents, Messrs E Fuller, W Coffison and H Alcock; Hon Secretary, Mr E P Turley; Hon Treasurer, Mr A Speer; and Committee, W Morrow, W C Foord, G Reed, E Fulford, E Hauber, H Jones and C Willis.

Bowral Soldiers’ Memorial

Three months earlier, on 4 August 1919, the fifth anniversary of the declaration of war, a crowd had assembled at the park on the corner of Bong Bong and Merrigang Sts, Bowral, for the laying by Sir George Fuller KCMG of the foundation stone for a soldiers’ memorial.

The Bowral Soldiers’ Memorial was unveiled on 30 January 1920 by His Excellency, the Governor Sir Walter Davidson. The memorial, designed by Henry Sheaffe, an architect, community leader and mayor and constructed of polished trachyte stone, then contained 211 names, 41 of whom made the supreme sacrifice, and was erected by the people of Bowral, Glenquarry and Burradoo.

In unveiling the monument, Governor Davidson said that it represented the best people, whatever their station in life, of the town. Whether they were fighting men, munition workers or nurses, they had taken their chance in order to do their duty for their country. In raising the Union Jack covering the monument, the Governor said, “there it is in all its glory, all honour to fighting men, all honour to the dead. Nothing could be more typical of the people than having a monument of stone of the hills of their own district”.

Large crowd at the laying of the foundation stone for Bowral Soldiers’ Memorial, 4 August 1919

Bowral Sub-Branch

February 1920 saw the formation of the Bowral Sub-Branch of the Returned Sailors & Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) and in 1922 the Mittagong diggers formed their own sub-branch. The reason for the formation of two separate sub-branches is unknown, there being no surviving records of the Nattai, Bowral or Mittagong sub-branches from this period.

Verton Bruce Smith was the first president of the new Bowral Sub-Branch. He was the son of Arthur Bruce Smith, barrister and local Member of Parliament. Verton was an Architecture student at the University of Sydney when he enlisted in 1917, aged just 18 years. He served as a gunner in the 39th Battalion and returned to Bowral after the war. The Bruce Smith Cup, a golf competition played between Bowral and Moss Vale, is named after Verton’s father, Arthur, who acted as a civilian patron of the Nattai Sub-Branch. The competition is still in existence today.

Verton Bruce Smith was president for only a short period, replaced by Walter Coulson who had taken over from him by the end of 1920. Coulson was a school teacher at Glenquarry and had served in the 34th Battalion. He later became a headmaster and was also Deputy President of the Teachers’ Federation.

A father and son combination both served as presidents: Charles Norris Griffin was President from 1921–1926 and in 1951, Norris Cecil Griffin, who served in the RAAF, in turn succeeded as president. Another prominent member of the Sub-Branch was Arthur Nelham Burton who settled in Bowral soon after WW I when he bought the real estate business that would become the well-known Burton of Bowral. Gunner Burton of the 107th Howitzer Battery was awarded both the Military Medal in Belgium in 1917 and the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions in October 1918 at Zonnebeke. Arthur Burton served as President in 1926 and from 1938-1941 and as Secretary at various times.

Considerable money was accumulated to fund a hall or clubroom, but the members decided that greater benefit would ensue to the community by donating the money to the Berrima District Hospital at Bowral for a memorial children’s ward. In 1935 the Bowral Sub-Branch transferred over 700 pounds to the Hospital Board to finance the erection and furnishing of the children’s ward.

In 1938 the Bowral Sub-Branch received a certificate for the highest country collection per member for the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park Sydney, a great honour as there were only two awards made in NSW. They received a picture of the Anzac Memorial signed by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, which hung in the Council Chambers where Sub-Branch meetings were held.

In 1940, to include members of the Australian Air Force, the League’s name was changed to the Returned Sailors, Soldiers & Airmens Imperial League of Australia.

With the cessation of World War II in 1945, the new generation of Diggers who had ventured their all to preserve Australia as a country of free men swelled the ranks of the League, endeavouring to carry on the precepts laid down by their fathers before them.

Establishment of a Women’s Auxiliary was mooted at a Bowral Sub-Branch meeting on 13 November 1945, and 11 days later was an accomplished fact. Mrs W L Foley, then the Mayoress, became President and Miss L Munro, Secretary. Amongst the first eight members was Mrs M N Hardy, who six months later became president. Large sums were raised from many charitable efforts, with the 1947 total being 1000 pounds.

In the beginning, the Bowral Sub-Branch met with many difficulties, not the least being the absence of a clubroom, but this was solved when arrangements were made for the former billiard room in the Bowral School of Arts to be converted into an All Services Club.

This 1913 photograph of Bowral School of Arts was taken shortly after the upper floor was added. Note the sign saying ‘Billiard Room’ in window at left.

Bowral Soldiers Club in the School of Arts was officially opened on 12 November 1948 prior to the commencement of the annual Diggers’ Ball. Mr K L Westbrook, president of the club and of Bowral Sub-Branch, introduced the Mayor of Bowral, Ald H F Venables, who extended a welcome to Mr Jeff Bate, MLA. Mr Bate addressed the meeting and officially opened the clubrooms which proved to be a fine meeting place for the various ex-service organisations.

Membership of the Sub-Branch had hovered around 35-40 in the years between the wars. Like most sub-branches, the post-WW II years saw huge increases in membership of the League and by the late 1940s Bowral Sub-Branch had well over 200 members. These members were very active in social activities with newspapers of the 1940s and 1950s reporting that the Bowral Diggers’ Ball was a hugely popular event with as many as 400 people attending.

The Bowral Sub-Branch also sponsored a candidate in the Miss Australia Quest in 1947. Joyce Heuber was chosen as Miss Bowral and was the servicemen’s candidate at the Miss Australia Ball in Sydney. She was the daughter of Les Hauber, a World War I veteran and Sub-Branch member. He was one of four Hauber boys of Bowral who served in the AIF. All but one returned from the war. Harry Hauber died in France in 1918 and was buried at Aubigny. The Haubers lived in Bowral St and Mrs Hauber named their house Aubigny after the place where her boy was buried.

On 12 June 1959 an informal ceremony was held at the Berrima District Hospital in Bowral, where Mrs A B Power, President of the Bowral Sub-Branch Auxiliary, presented one of the patients with a life membership badge. The recipient of this high honour was Miss Sarah Gunn, who had been a patient of the hospital for four months suffering from a broken hip. Miss Gunn had served in its auxiliaries for 24 years and been a member of the Bowral branch for 10 years.

At a meeting in Bowral in February 1961, Mr K H Ballans was made an honorary life member of the Bowral Sub-Branch. He received his life membership for outstanding service to the League. Mr Ballans served in the AIF in World War II and was a prisoner of war for 3½ years in Malaya. He was a former secretary of the Bowral Sub-Branch and was President in 1960. He did not seek re-election as president of the Bowral Sub-Branch. His successor was Mr C F Helps. Mr J Binney succeeded Mr R A Wright, who did not seek re-election as honorary secretary. Mr F H Hawkey was re-elected honorary treasurer.

Major Eric Grant was a long serving president of the Sub-Branch, fulfilling the role for 15 years on three separate occasions as well as acting as secretary for a couple of years. Eric was one of the Rats of Tobruk and in 1944 was awarded the Military Cross for ‘marked leadership, courage and coolness’. He was one of the drivers for the establishment of a licenced ex-servicemen’s club in Bowral.

The League’s name was shortened to Returned Services League of Australia (RSL) in 1965 and in 1990 became the Returned & Services League of Australia Ltd, a limited company.

TOR LODGE and BOWRAL RSL ALL SERVICES CLUB

In February 1967 Sub-Branch members decided to purchase the well-known Bowral guesthouse, Tor Lodge, as a clubhouse, registering the entity Bowral RSL All Services Club to run it. The objective was to obtain a liquor licence to sustain it into the future. Obtaining this would, however, prove more difficult than expected.

This residence, originally known as Holme Hale, was renamed Tor Lodge in 1939.

It was built in the early 1870s for the Harrison family, situated on a large block with a front entrance off Bong Bong St and a side entrance from Bowral St via Holmehale St.

Purchased in 1939 by Captain Smith, the house was renovated, enlarged and renamed Tor Lodge, becoming an exclusive guesthouse with accommodation capacity extended by a two-storey building erected alongside.  Mrs Smith ran the guesthouse until the early 1960s. 

The Bowral RSL Sub-Branch owned it between 1967 and 1973 and the property, having passed through several name changes and ownerships since 1870, was demolished in 1982 to make way for a group of luxury strata units.

By 1973 the name of the club had become Bowral RSL Citizen’s & Sportsman’s Club Ltd.  In October that year Major Grant, President of the Club, chaired a meeting at Tor Lodge to put a case to the district sporting clubs for joining together to build the membership and support that was a prerequisite to obtaining a liquor licence for the club.  In attendance at the meeting were the Bowral Mayor, Alderman David Wood, and representatives of local sporting bodies.

Referring to finance, Major Grant said Tor Lodge was bought in 1967 with a deposit of $12,000, chiefly provided by RSL members in the form of debentures. The former owners were pressing for payment of the balance owing, about $28,000.  Major Grant stated that “some of us thought the building was worth keeping and we threw in enough to pay off the difference so that it now rests in our names. With other commitments, including the original $12,000 deposit and payments to contractors, we owe a total of about $60,000 with an income of only $100 per month.”  

Major Grant said that “if Council would like to buy Tor Lodge from us at a price below its real value, we would have enough money to build the nucleus of a club.”  He further stated that the whole basis of getting the sporting bodies in as part of the social club was to prove to the Licensing Court a community of interest which was necessary before a liquor licence was granted.  He then invited the representatives to discuss the matter with their various clubs and let the RSL know their decision in about two weeks. 

The Mayor, David Wood, told the meeting that Bowral Council agreed in principle that a social club was needed in the town.  He said the Council had discussed the proposed sporting complex, but was not envisaged as an immediate project, but one spaced over a number of years.  The Mayor put up an alternative solution to use the existing YWCA building in Bendooley Street as the proposed social club.  It was deemed unsuitable for a sporting club as it could not provide sporting activities.

Nothing came of the above proposal and in early November 1973 Tor Lodge was put up for auction in Sydney with a reserve of $100,000.  The building was initially passed in but was later sold by private treaty to a Sydney company for $92,500.

Bowral RSL Sub-Branch members were left with just over $30,000 in hand after paying their debts. It was expected that Bowral Council would make land available for a sporting complex and clubhouse – either at Loseby Park or on land at the junction of Eridge Park and Moss Vale Roads – but neither of these eventuated. 

Now without a home, the Sub-Branch moved its activities back to the School of Arts in Bendooley Street where they previously had a meeting room some years before.

Bowral Country Golf & RSL Club Limited

In early 1978 talks were held between the Bowral RSL Sub-Branch and the Bowral Country Golf Club regarding an amalgamation.  On 15 February 1978 at an extra-ordinary general meeting of the Country Golf Club it was resolved to alter the Article of Association to allow the amalgamation of Bowral RSL Sub-Branch and Bowral RSL Citizen’s & Sportsman’s Club Ltd with the Country Golf Club.  The name of the new club would be Bowral Country Golf & RSL Club Limited.  The motion was put to the meeting and was approved in favour by an overwhelming majority.

RSL Sub-Branch members were admitted to the new club as full members with full voting rights.  Members of the Bowral RSL Sportsman’s Club Ltd were admitted as members without voting rights.  Membership fees were set at $5.00 for all incoming members.
The Bowral Sub-Branch remained in the Bowral School of Arts meeting room until July 1978 when they held their first meeting at the Country Golf Club in Boronia St, Bowral.

It was agreed at a meeting held on 4 July 1978 to transfer $20,000 to the new club together with subscription fees for all members of the new club.  In addition to the cash contribution, the Sub-Branch transferred two full size billiard tables, two sets of carpet bowls, dart boards and a table tennis table and bats. The total value of the contribution was estimated at $30,000.

Aerial view of Bowral Country Club and golf course, c1990, with the clubhouse on left (now demolished).  Adjacent to the clubhouse is the Golf View Motor Inn. The Gibraltar Hotel was built on the site of the golf clubhouse.

Bowral War Memorial Upgrade

At a meeting of the Sub-Branch on 4 September 1979 it was resolved to upgrade the Bowral War Memorial.  Replacement of the sandstone flagging around the base of the cenotaph was carried out plus the addition of commemoration plaques to those who lost their lives in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.  The cost was $3,000 and was funded by public donations. 

The work was completed in 1981 and the plaques read as follows:

North Side

BOER WAR SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902 BOWRAL RSL SUB BRANCH DEDICATES THIS PLAQUE TO HONOUR THE KNOWN NINETY-NINE MEN AND ONE WOMAN FROM THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS WHO SERVED IN THIS CONFLICT

A GRATEFUL NATION AND THE COMMUNITY THANK THOSE FROM BOWRAL WHO SERVED OUR NATION DURING THE MAYALAN PENINSULA/ BORNEO/ INDONESIA CONFLICTS 1948 - 1966

A GRATEFUL NATION AND THE COMMUNITY THANK THOSE FROM BOWRAL WHO SERVED DURING THE VIETNAM WAR 1962 – 1973

East side

TO THE MEMORY OF THE CITIZENS OF BOWRAL WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES IN WORLD WAR 2 1939-1945 AND ETERNAL GRATITUDE TO THOSE WHO ALSO SERVED

South Side

IN ETERNAL GRATITUDE OF THE CITIZENS OF BOWRAL TO THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE KOREAN WAR 1950-1954

West Side

TO THE ETERNAL HOPE THAT PEACE WILL PREVAIL FOR EVERMORE

In 2002 work commenced on a major reconstruction of the Bowral Cenotaph at the instigation of Bowral businessman and RSL Sub-Branch member Mr Ted Springett.  The cenotaph was completely dismantled and relocated a short distance away to a more central position within the Memorial Park. 

A new block of stone was positioned at the base of the memorial with the names of the World War II veterans engraved in gold.  A small addition was also made to the World War I section to incorporate names additional to the original 211 names.
 
Constructed from trachyte quarried from nearby Mount Gibraltar and sent to Tumut for cutting and polishing, it was returned to Bowral for placement with the original stones. The newly upgraded memorial was opened by Air Chief Marshall Sir Neville McNamara before the Remembrance Day Service on Tuesday 11 November 2003.

Bowral Bowling Club: home of RSL Sub-Branch since 2004

During the late 1990s the Bowral Country Club ran into financial difficulties resulting in the collapse of the club and the sale of the land and building to Mr John Uliana. The new owner demolished the existing building and constructed a new building on the site.
  
The result was the RSL Sub-Branch was forced to move to various locations to hold their monthly meetings.  In August 2004 Bowral Country Club advised the Sub-Branch that there was no designated area in the new building to house the RSL. Negotiations then commenced with the Bowral Bowling Club to secure meeting and storage facilities in their clubhouse.  On 19 February 2004 Bowral Bowling Club advised the Sub-Branch that the directors had agreed to allow the Bowral RSL Sub-Branch to hold their meetings in their clubhouse in Shepherd Street, Bowral.   At a meeting of Bowral Sub-Branch on 6 October 2004, members voted to accept the Bowling Club’s offer of a home. 

A grant of $4000 was received in 2011 to upgrade the Bowral War Memorial plaques. The money was used to include the young men and women who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars as well as the Malay Emergency, Borneo and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

With the assistance of the Wingecarribee Shire Council, the Sub-Branch replaced the flagpole at a cost of $1200.  The new flagpole was erected in memory of the late Sergeant Frank H Hawkey who was Sub-Branch treasurer from 1956 until 1986.

Mr John Cummins is the current and longest serving President, having been elected to the position in 2002.  The Bowral RSL Sub-Branch has now held its meetings in the Bowral Bowling Club for the past seventeen years and continues to do so.

References:

1. Bowral RSL Sub-Branch records
2. Bowral RSL Sub-Branch President Mr. John Cummins
3. History of the Bowral War Memorial 1920-2002 by Nathan Wise
4. Berrima District Historical & Family History Society Inc.

Archives Photos are from the Berrima District Historical Society’s Image Collection.

The above history was researched and compiled by Ian Mackey and Philip Morton - Berrima District Historical & Family History Society November 2021.