DIGGERS have expressed “absolute disgust” at the desecration of Altona cenotaph during a rampage that is believed to have started with a house being gutted by fire and ended with five businesses being hit by vandals.
About 2.15 last Wednesday morning, a single-storey weatherboard house at 90 Civic Parade near the cenotaph was set ablaze, causing about $150,000 damage.
MFB Commander Phil Taylor said the house was vacant.
“The neighbours told us fairly quickly there were no occupants,” he said.
Firefighters in six trucks took about 35 minutes to control the blaze, even in pouring rain. Just a few minutes later, a stolen wheelie bin was thrown on to the cenotaph’s eternal flame at 115 Civic Parade, setting the bin alight and burning wreaths placed there during Altona RSL’s Anzac service.
Altona RSL president Alan Scott said he couldn’t repeat the language he used when he saw the vandalism. He said if former Victorian RSL president Bruce Ruxton was still alive, he might have had some words to say. “As a Vietnam veteran, I’m absolutely disgusted,” Mr Scott said. “From what it was, the Altona Village lifestyle has become a little different.”
Security footage shot barely half an hour later showed intruders trying to break into the Altona RSL clubrooms in Sargood Street, using tables, chairs and a fire extinguisher in an unsuccessful attempt to shatter security glass.
When the vandals failed, they set off the fire extinguisher. Club manager David Hanson said members were shocked at the attempted break-in and what was the second vandalism attack on the Altona cenotaph in the past year.
“Obviously it’s a bit disrespectful seeing the time of the year it’s happened,” he said. “The wreaths were kicked around as well. We had a ceremony there on the 22nd [of April] and there were 15 wreaths there.”
Mr Hanson said the wreaths kicked around included one laid on behalf of Vietnam veterans and another laid there by federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon.
The same morning, it is believed that items for donation outside the Salvation Army store in Pier Street were strewn around. Five local businesses were burgled or vandalised.
A 19-year-old Altona man and a 26-year-old Burwood man will front court in late July, charged with arson, burglary, theft and criminal damage offences in the Altona area on the night.
