By Tate Papworth
A lovingly created Remembrance Day tribute of hand-knitted poppies in Keilor has been hit by vandals with an anti-war agenda.
The eye-catching display is the work of St Augustine’s Primary School pupils and the Keilor Knitwits (knitting group), with the Keilor Historical Society working with Brimbank council to establish the display at the Keilor cenotaph. But after the tribute was erected, the vandals struck.
Keilor Historical Society president Susan Jennison said it was a targeted attack.
“It was distressing to see this occur,” she said. “There’s about 300 poppies, all hand-made, that went into this and I know the children at St Augustine’s would be distressed if they’d seen it.”
The vandals pulled out a number of poppies, replacing them with their own, which had an anti-war message emblazoned on it.
Ms Jennison said the protest missed the mark.
“Everyone is welcome to their beliefs, but this is about respect – it’s not the time for that,” she said.
“The idea of Remembrance Day is to recognise a war ending, I’m not sure they realise that with these sorts of messages.”
The display was restored in time for Remembrance Day.
“People take pride in their area,” Ms Jennison said. “We’ve just added a Gallipoli Oak to the cenotaph, too, so this is becoming a significant site for the community.”
