Yass Valley Council Mayor Jasmin Jones, Yass Soldiers Club Manager Robert Packwood, Club President Ross Webster, Former Governor General the Honourable David Hurley and former Yass Valley Soldiers Club President Bill Nesbitt cutting the ribbon last Friday.
On Friday October 31st the Yass Soldiers Club held the official opening of the newly refurbished Yass Soldiers Club from 11:00 am after working at limited capacity for months. The opening started with MC and General Manager Robert Packwood, Traditional Custodian and member of the Ngunnawal people Michael Bell performed a touching ‘Welcome to Country’.
Club President Ross Webster, said a few words, followed by a few warm words from Yass Valley Council Mayor Jasmin Jones, and finally the Honourable David Hurley, former Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia spoke. They then held the ribbon-cutting ceremony and commemorative plaque unveiling. Ross Webster then conducted a special guests tour of the new facilities, finishing with a lunch.
Packwood said, “I would like to offer my sincere thanks to General Hurley and Mrs Hurley for taking time out of their busy calendar to be with us today and to all of you that attended, it’s been a fantastic day.”
Two years under renovation with limited facilities has finally come to an end at the Club. The restaurant is open seven days a week. Although open since August 5, this officially marks the opening of the new Club. There is new equipment, staff, and a fresh new vibe for the beloved Club. President of the Soldiers Club Ross Webster thanked all involved on a tremendous effort, a special mention for former President of 27 years Bill Nesbitt and his wife Helen.
“I’d just like to acknowledge the presence of Mr Bill Nesbitt and his beautiful wife Helen, a President of the club for 27 years prior to moving to the lovely shores of South Australia. Bill, thank you, you put us in a position where we could proceed. Thank you very much for coming, it was quite a way to come and thank you for what you have done in the position you put us in. Ross acknowledged another member of the Club in Bobby Nash.
“We have one member here, Bobby Nash, who was an apprentice on one of the original builds in 1967. So that’s last century. He’s here today, and he has been a stalwart of the club for many, many years. Mayor of Yass Valley Council Jasmin Jones thanked everyone for coming to celebrate this occasion, “I’d like to, first of all, honour our amazing guests here with us today, our former Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Honourable David Hurley and Mrs Linda Hurley.
“We are deeply honoured that you are here today to share this with us. It means a lot to our community that you are here. “General Hurley, your leadership and your service to Australia, both in uniform and in your role as Governor General, inspire deep respect across communities like Yass. We thank you for your continued advocacy, for regional Australia, and for recognising the efforts of local organisations, such as the Yass Soldiers Club.
“I want to thank all the members of the board and former boards for your vision and commitment. Instead of three cheers Mayor Jones invited Linda Hurley to lead us in a special song.
“My dad sung it to me, I’ve sung it to my children, Linda is going to lead us in the song…
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.
“The Yass Soldiers Club holds a special place in our community founded by return servicemen nearly a century ago. “As we’ve heard, the club was formed in 1922 in the Soldiers Memorial Hall as a place for our war veterans to meet. It’s important that we acknowledge that they needed that space. Some of them had legs missing, arms blown off. They weren’t always welcomed in places. They needed somewhere where they feel safe.
“I just want to echo Michael Bell’s words today, one of our Ngunnawal elders, that this is a place our community feels safe, and I can’t wait to have milestones in my children’s lives where we can say, “Well done, young girl, or my son, let’s go to the club and celebrate. So let’s celebrate today what a special achievement this is, and I can’t wait to celebrate with a beautiful meal, and I’ll second the motion on banana fritters.. And just thank you to the team for what you’ve achieved.
“People will not realise when they walk through the beautiful doors here and into this renovated space. The blood, sweat and tears and the mathematics behind it, but we here today want to acknowledge the board and the club members. Well done, well done. The Honourable David Hurley spoke before he and his wife Linda officially unveiled the plaque.
“Community organisations like this are mentioned in that approach where we build networks around people to help them deal with what life has thrown at them and for servicemen and women, we know exactly what life can throw with service to their country, Australia.
“It’s great honour for me to be here today to reopen the club, particularly when I followed on from Sir Roden, who opened it a long time ago. I think I was in high school when he opened it. It was often said to me in jobs I’ve been in because you follow on from some great Australians and people say “oh, you have got big boots to fill. “And my response over years was to say, well, “I bought my own.” But today I’m glad I’m following in Sir Roden’s, and we only have a couple of things in common, we where soldiers, we both served in Sydney University Regiment and we were both Governors. I think what Jasmin referred to about a place for servicemen and their families to come where there is understanding, where what you bring, people recognise, and they look to heal, provide care, provide social comfort. So don’t think of this, and I know you don’t, as bricks and mortar, this is not bricks and mortar. This carries so much in terms of building relationships, maintaining relationships, healing and bringing people into a better position.
“We don’t want to have veterans. If we can stop it, we would, but that is not the nature of humanity. So what we need to do is to be prepared to assist when that call comes and we will do that.
“Neil, thank you for the sub-branch work that goes on here. It is absolutely critical to veterans in our community, to the board, the directors and so forth having the foresight to say, and I think the gumption these days to get up and say yes, we need to build this, and get it done and get it done properly.
“To the Mayor and your staff for the support and I’m sure you will gain through this. As we mentioned before there is staff here who work here, who do the work around us to enable you to then have a day off today, it is just so important.
“We were talking on the way up here about community life. I first came to Yass, like most people in New South Wales, when you travel through it, when you stop off for a milkshake as a kid or something harder a bit later or drink driving change, and then as a young man at Duntroon, we came and played rugby up here, up the hill there on the oval, all the way out of town freezing to death and being beaten up by old Yass people, as cadets. It is a delight to come back here and it is a delight to see country and rural life still charging on because you don’t underestimate how vital you are to who we are as Australians. So congratulations to everyone involved.
Mr and Mrs Hurley unveiling the plaque.
Attendees gathered for a group photo after lunch.
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