Tamworth's Anzac Gates will be returned to their former glory before Anzac Day with a stonemason set to go to work next week.
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The historic structure was desecrated just days before Anzac Day last year, when a vandal caused damage to three out of the four honour rolls, and one name in particular, with what police believed to be a battery-operated impact drill.
Next week a stonemason, contracted from Sydney's Rookwood Cemetery will repair the damage, much to the delight of new Tamworth RSL sub-branch president Jayne McCarthy.
"It will be absolutely great for the sub-branch and the community to have the memorial repaired before Anzac Day," she said.
"Anzac Day is always a very special occasion for the local community, and we hope to see the Dawn Service being really well attended again, and the Anzac Gates back to looking their best."
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Mrs McCarthy, who is the sub-branch's first female president in 101 years, thanked Tamworth Regional Council for seeking grant money for the repairs.
A TRC spokesperson confirmed that a $10,000 grant was awarded from Veteran's affairs through the War Memorials Fund for the repairs.
"The proposed work is non-invasive and irreversible, and represents a minimal intervention approach," the spokesperson said.
The repairs will see the "impact marks coloured in with clear acrylic to reduce their visibility in contrast to the polished trachyte, with isolated missing flecks of lost silver coloured in with silver mica-titanate paint."
The repair work is set to cost $3000, with the remaining $7000 earmarked for "other War Memorial sites requiring a condition assessment and maintenance work."
Late last year the Sandakan Memorial, which also sits in Anzac Park was also attacked by a vandal who used a saw to remove the peak of one of the mountains, and damage another, on the scale replica.
The RSL believes the same person is responsible for both attacks.
"It is difficult to know how to repair the Sandakan Memorial, but we are looking into how it can be done," Mrs McCarthy said.