When former soldier Eamon Hale stands at the restored St James Park War Memorial this Anzac Day morning he’ll be able to see his service reflected on it. 

Newly engraved on the cenotaph’s northern face, and picked out in gold, are 6 new ‘theatres of war’. Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, East Timor – and Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served for a total of 22 months. 

‘I’ll be able to point out to my kids ‘that’s where Daddy served’,’ Eamon says. 

‘It’s really important to have these modern conflicts reflected. We’re able to see that the people around us understand our service and appreciate it, and that what we did was worth it.’

Members of the Hawthorn RSL, where Eamon is vice-president, worked closely with Council on the restoration. We in turn worked with the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to confirm the details. Conflicts where those who served qualified for the Australian Active Service Medal for Warlike Service were added. 

‘These are people who’ve been shot at, had mates killed, experienced tough times,’ explains Eamon.

Hawthorn RSL is Victoria’s biggest traditional sub-branch, meaning it doesn’t provide gaming or hospitality. It has more than 300 service members, who’ve served in almost every conflict Australia’s been involved in since the Vietnam War. A big cohort will attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the St James Park memorial.

‘We really encourage people to come along,’ says Eamon. ‘I think it will surprise a lot of people what the Australian veteran of 2026 looks like and how young our veterans are and the really quite remarkable things they’ve done.’

Restoration of the St James Park War Memorial was funded by City of Boroondara with support from the Victorian and Australian governments. Find out more at our Restoring the St James Park War Memorial page. 

To find local Anzac Day services, go to our Anzac Day page.