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Town Hall, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne
Town Hall, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne

Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryMarch 20, 2019
The Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) the forerunner of today’s Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) was formed in June 1916.1 In late 1918 the RSSILA decided to establish branches in every suburb of Melbourne. 2 To this end, Cr Owen Sinclair presided over a meeting at the Temperance Hall on Thursday 20 March 1919. Fourteen…

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A Captured German Gun for Port!

Home Front Stories, WWI CentenaryMarch 20, 2019
An interesting aside has come from a meeting at Port Melbourne's Temperance Hall on Thursday evening, 20 March 1919. Representatives of fourteen local patriotic bodies were meeting to form a committee make arrangements for a Pleasant Sunday Afternoon to raise money to aid the formation of a local branch of the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA), more…

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