Camera misses lawnmower men

The lawnmower used by Thirroul RSL war veterans to tend their memorial garden was stolen from the park’s compound a fortnight ago, days after security cameras were installed to protect the area.

The cameras were bought using a government grant following the graffiti attack on the World War One Memorial in Woodward Memorial Park at Thirroul earlier in the year.

This attack is another blow to the RSL, angering and upsetting members all over again.

Some time on the night of Saturday December 8 a person or persons is thought to have broken into the compound at the park where the members keep the tools for their volunteer work on the gardens.

The RSL’s lawnmower was taken, and the surveillance cameras caught nothing.

Vice-President of the RSL Keith Woodward said the perpetrator must have known the cameras were there and how to avoid being caught by them.

“They’re cunning… it proves that they know the cameras are there I think.”

The cameras are set high on the wall of the building adjacent to the park, and weren’t angled to see directly below them where the compound is situated.

Mr Woodward said the RSL is having the cameras repositioned to cover the compound and improving the security on the gate.

The damage is done though, and with the grass growing quickly over summer the RSL members have no choice but to bring a mower from one of their homes to the park each week in a bid to keep it under control.

Mr Woodward said vandalism to the park happens at random intervals.

Some years ago he and his son had to reattach wooden rifle to the life-size WWI soldier statue on top of the memorial because vandals were climbing the memorial and pulling it down, he said.

Mr Woodward said it is a blow to the members each time someone damages or steals from the park.

“They get that disappointed when this kind of thing happens,” he said.

“They do all the work down there voluntarily and then something like this happens . . . . . it’s a blow to them.

“It’s a bloody lovely little park and then you get some lout come down like that…”

Three of the five men who maintain the park over several hours each week are more than 80 years old.