Located along High Street, (bordered by the junctions of Tallarook Street at the western end and Wallis Street at the eastern end), the Vietnam Memorial Wall, Memorial Grove and Commemorative Walk, proudly commemorates the service of all personnel, serving during the Vietnam conflict on behalf of Australia, from 1962 – 1975.*
Seymour was chosen as the site for the walk due to its history as a site for military training.
As early as the Boer War, troops from Australia who served in that conflict trained in camps in the hills nearby.
Some 12kms to the west of Seymour is the well-known Puckapunyal Military Area – first used as a mobilisation and training base during World War 1.
By 1939, the area was formally established as Puckapunyal Camp (‘Pucka’). It was one of several new camps built for the concentration and training of the Second AIF.
7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR), was raised on 1 September 1965 at Puckapunyal.
The battalion began arriving in Vietnam in April 1967, relieving 5RAR. It was part of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) and was based at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy province.
The commemorative project, commencing in earnest in 2012, was undertaken in a series of stages. From design and construction, development of an interpretive centre, the meandering walk set amongst native trees and the focal piece – a winding wall of DigiGlass panels with photographic underlays, depict the story of the Vietnam conflict. The panels list over 60,000 names of every serviceman and servicewoman, in alphabetical order. Homage is also paid to several tracker dogs, vital to Australia’s service during the Vietnam campaign.
On Saturday 9th March 2013, a large crowd of several thousand people gathered for the opening of the 2nd Stage of the Vietnam Veterans’ Commemorative Walk.
The use of trees serving as a landscape tribute to represent the vegetation in Vietnam and also as a reminder of Australia’s homeland vegetation,
is no accident.
They include Spotted Gums (Corymbia maculata), arranged in plantation style,
to resemble rubber trees.
Tussock grasses were planted in neat beds,
to simulate rice paddies.
In 2014, young Queensland Bottle Trees (Brachychiton ruprestis) were planted along the High Street verge to form a vanguard avenue.
See also:
Vietnam Veterans Avenue of Honour – Geelong, Victoria
Vietnam Memorial Avenue of Honour – Bandiana, Victoria
Vietnam War Memorial Cherry Tree Walk – Bowral, NSW
*Whilst Australia’s participation in the war was formally declared at an end on11 January 1973, the end-date of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War has officially been amended to 29 April 1975 to reflect Australia’s further involvement in the war during the fall of Saigon in 1975. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Australian War Memorial, in Canberra now recognise this new date.