Sappers move in DPR/TV/1591

Licola Village, Victoria. Sappers from the 21st Construction Squadron are helping to breathe new life into this remote Victorian ghost town. The 210-man effort is helping to restore the former sawmill township into a holiday camp for underprivileged children from Victoria and Tasmania. First move in the ambitious $300,000 project was made by the Lions Clubs of Victoria, which bought the entire town (and surrounding country...totalling 34 acres) in 1969. The sawmillers had earlier moved 32 miles north, leaving the township with a population of 11...including six children. Since then, volunteer helpers from Lions Clubs have slowly restored the campsite's cottages, with the help of gifts of building material from Victorian firms. Organisers wanted to open the centre on December 9, this year, to provide a holiday camp for children during the Christmas school holidays. But time was running out...and the Federal Government approved the use of the squadron, with its heavy plant, to provide the skill and manpower needed to finish the task. Lions official Mr Ray Ware today praised the involvement... "They have done in three weeks the amount of work it would take two years to have done with voluntary labour," he said. "The engineers have worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week to make sure the work is completed." Major Dan Simkins, the squadron commander, said: "It has been a chance for the entire unit to work together, using all the trade skills available to us." The unit used the project to train its Sappers in field craft, including small-scale infantry tactics. The RAAF airdropped rations to the troops on tactical exercises. Also identified: Sapper Jeffrey Kennewell, grader driver; Sapper Peter Jenkins; Lance Corporal Roger Pritchard.