THE Bathurst RSL Sub Branch must be congratulated for its mature and sensible response to being asked to extinguish the Eternal Flame within the War Memorial Carillon.
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The current flame has been a focus of the Bathurst region’s war commemorations for more than 50 years, acknowledged as a powerful symbol of the lives lost in conflict.
The Eternal Flame sends the message that the sacrifice of the fallen has not been forgotten, that their service and courage will live on in our memories.
But the gas-fired flame has not been without its problems.
For one, it is not eternal. The flame has often been extinguished over the years, usually as a result of a draught entering the vestibule at the base of the Carillon.
Worse, though, has been the sticky black soot the flame has emitted over the years, creating a film across the walls and also the Carillon bells that have been installed above it.
Keeping the soot down is an almost impossible job, regardless of how much cleaning time is committed to it.
And with an upgrade of the Carillon under way to finally make it a fully operational musical instrument, questions over the future of the flame were always going to be asked.
Unfortunately, the result will be that the flame will be extinguished for good, to be replaced by a sculptuire and lights to represent the flame. (A proposal to replace the flame with a hologram was also considered before being rejected.).
But the good news is that the spirit of those who have fallen to defend our freedom will always be remembered.
As Bathurst RSL Sub Branch chairman David Mills put it, the flame was only ever a symbol. And what it stood for was far more important than the flame itself.
“The flame represents the spirit of those who served,” Mr Mills told the Western Advocate this week.
“It’s a tangible way to focus on their service and sacrifice, and a reminder to the community that people have served and died for our country. It’s also a focus for our commemoration.”
It would have been easy for the Sub Branch to oppose removing the flame as an insult to those who fought.
Far more difficult but responsible was to use the opportunity to educate a modern community about what the flame really means. Lest we forget.
