In 1994 a group of Vietnam Veterans' from Melton attended a Vietnam Veterans' Day march in Geelong and out of this visit came the idea to form a sub-branch in Melton.
In November of that year the state executive attended a meeting in Melton at the Civic Centre and informed interested Veterans what the VVAA was all about.
In December we held our first AGM at the ambulance depot in Melton and elected a committee to run the sub-branch, with Jim Fitzgerald as president and Peter Richards as secretary.
In late 1995 the idea of building a memorial to Vietnam Veterans' in Melton was raised. During 1996 a design submitted by Ian Lawrey was accepted by the committee and plans were put into place to commence construction
Also in 1996 Gill Ellis and Jim Fitzgerald attended a meeting at Footscray RSL with the view of finding a place to commence a Veteran centre. An interim committee was formed and the Shire of Melton commissioners was approached.
A building in Mckenzie Street (which was the old premises of the Melton RSL) was offered and gladly accepted. A committee was elected and the centre was up and operating.
The start of 1997 saw sub-branch meetings moved to the Veterans centre. In August the opening of the Vietnam Veterans'memorial was held and attended by approximately 1000 people. Opened by Tim Fisher, the then Deputy Prime minister. It was a great day for the Melton Vietnam Veterans.
The sub-branch had an active social committee which initiated our Anzac day functions and also our annual Christmas function. 1999 saw the start of the Thursday BBQ. In 2000 Graeme Sertori designed a badge to be sold for Vietnam Veterans' week. With art work by Bill deCarli, Graeme presented his design at the quarterly state meeting of the sub branch.
After a number of months the design was accepted by state and is now sold by all sub-branches during Vietnam Veterans week.
In 2001 we saw a change of presidents with Gill Ellis elected our second president.
In 2002 Jim Coghlan was elected in as the new president and the Melton sub-branch continued to go forward. With a grant from DVA the sub-branch built a magnificent Pergola and BBQ area at the rear of the Veterans centre. By 2004 the BBQ has become an institution. 2004 also sees the Melton sub-branch turn 10 years old. Lets hope there are many more to come.
This brief history was kindly supplied by the first president Mr Jim Fitzgerald