By Colin MacGillivray
MITCHELL Shire Council and Seymour RSL members are disappointed at a Federal Government commitment to build a new facility to house the Australian Army Tank Museum at Puckapunyal, claiming it is prioritising financial savings over veterans’ mental health.
The tank museum – housing one of the largest collections of historic tanks, armoured vehicles and other military memorabilia in Australia – is located inside the Puckapunyal Military Area, requiring visitors to bring photographic identification and arrange a pass at the base’s entrance.
Mitchell Shire Council said the museum’s location limited public access and pushed for a new facility outside the perimeter of the base.
Council had discussions with former defence and veterans’ affairs ministers Darren Chester and Andrew Gee about building a new publicly-accessible building at Puckapunyal.
When Matt Keogh inherited the portfolio with Labor’s win in the May federal election, the government re-examined the project.
Earlier this month the government notified council that it would fund the new museum but on a smaller scale than council had hoped, and without additional amenities including a café and gift shop.
Council community services and advocacy director Mary Agostino said it was a letdown for local veterans who worked hard to restore tanks in the museum’s collection.
“They’re designing a brand-new facility that won’t accommodate the collection that the veterans have been working on and restoring for years,” she said.
“They’re shipping these fantastic historic tanks and other things back to other places, so we’re losing some of the collection that the veterans have restored.
“If you’re talking about veterans’ mental health and you look at the Royal Commission [into Defence and Veteran Suicide] its findings, this gives them an outlet. They’ve been working diligently on this.
“We want it to be a national tourist attraction and they’ve not allocated any café or any shop.
“This town deserves a little bit of love from the [Australian Defence Force]. It’s been loyal to the ADF since World War One.”
Museum manager Major Craig Montgomery said plans for a café were never officially included in the new facility design, and that compromises were made because the project was millions of dollars over budget.
“When it was designed there was never ever going to be a café in there,” he said.
“We’ve had to cut back so much to get under budget. Even our car park has been reduced. At the moment we are way over budget because of the cost of inflation and materials.
“Council has never approached me as the manager of the tank museum, although they do have meet frequently liaison people at the Puckapunyal headquarters.
“Something like a coffee van in the car park would be fine, but it was never in the design for the building to have a café.”
A Department of Defence spokesperson confirmed the new facility, to be known as the Combined Arms and Heritage Learning Centre would not feature a gift shop or café, but would offer merchandise for purchase at reception.
Seymour RSL member and local military historian John Phoenix said cuts to the museum were ‘short-sighted’.
“We’re in the middle of doing a military trail around the Seyour district. We’ve got the Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk, the cenotaph, the World War One hospital memorial, the swimming pool memorial – there are 27 memorials around the district,” he said.
“If we want a military trail in this district, we can incorporate the tank museum into that and get people to stay one or two nights in town and have a look around.
“The museum has got a hell of a lot of gear, and you want more than just an hour to go through the place, so we believe you really need a cafeteria of some sort to keep people in the museum and in the district.”
Mr Phoenix said the government could lease an on-site café to make its money back.
“I guarantee someone would jump at the chance to lease it. I believe it’s a missed opportunity,” he said.
“With the amount of money that’s being thrown around at a national level, I’m sure an extra $100,000 or whatever they would need is not going to hurt in the scheme of things.”
