Branch - Ballarat
The Air Force Association’s Ballarat Branch was established in 1945.
Meetings
All meetings are held at our rooms at Airport Hut 48, Airport Drive, Mitchell Park (ie Ballarat Aerodrome).
Monthly Social Meetings
Our Social Luncheon Meetings are held on the SECOND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH, (except January), with arrival time by 11.45 am for a 12 Noon commencement.
Monthly Business Meetings
Our Business Meetings, open to all members, are held at 3 pm on the SECOND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH. These meetings immediately follow a monthly Committee meeting.
Where Are We?
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - May 2020
In this edition:
With social distancing requirements very likely to be with us, I believe, for a very long time yet, it is most unlikely that we will be able to resume our normal Monthly Social Luncheon Meetings for some considerable time. There is no way that we could meet social distancing requirements with that type of meeting with the number of members who attend even as restrictions are eased to allow larger numbers of people to gather socially under social distancing requirements.
With this in mind and with it becoming apparent that some members appear to be in need of somewhere to have some social activity, I made contact with appropriate Victorian State Government MP’s requesting ‘some guidance’ in respect of smaller social gatherings for our members.
Ballarat Branch President's Update - June 2020
It has been great to see members once again being able to gather socially at our Airport Hut 48 rooms, albeit in necessarily controlled smaller numbers and with strict social distancing protocols in place during our continuing Covid-19 restrictions........
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - October 2019
In this edition: VALE Charles Henry Newall | Welfare calls | Poppy Club and Ballarat annual RSL dinner | and more...
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - November 2018
Centenary of Armistice Commemoration
Ballarat was very well represented in respect to the Air Force Association of Victoria's 2018 Pilgrimage to the Australian Flying Corps Memorial at Point Cook in the form of Centenary of Armistice Commemoration.....
National Malaya & Borneo Veterans' Memorial Service – 31 August 2018
A Commemorative Service for Malaya and Borneo veterans was held at the Shrine of Remembrance on 31 August. AFA member and Confrontation veteran, Noel Hutchins was there...
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - February 2019
OFFICIAL OPENING ~ AIR FORCE ASSOCIATION BALLARAT BRANCH ROOMS AT AIRPORT HUT 48
An event to mark the official opening of rooms allocated for our use at Airport Hut 48 will be held on
Thursday 28th March 2019 ... Arrive before 1.40 pm ... for a 2 pm commencement...............
The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial - Ballarat
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."
New Website to Record 1WAGS History in Ballarat
AFA's Ballarat Branch is creating a website to record historical details about the airmen who trained at No 1 Wireless Air Gunners School at Ballarat Airport during WW2.
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - August 2018
In this edition:
- Australian Flying Corps ~ First AFC WWI Fatality
- The Armistice of 1918 and Treaty of Versailles: Part Two ~ Naval Strategies and Worsening Conditions in Germany
- Building a Lancaster Bomber Crew Empire Air Training scheme WWII
- President's Report...and more.
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - May 2019
In this edition: A Most Generous Gift - Mr Maurice Turner addresses our May social luncheon meeting with a display of a small number of his WWII model aircraft from his large collection which he is gifting to our Ballarat Branch...
RAAF Officers Mess to be Restored
For more than 50 years a former Royal Australian Air Force Officers’ Mess has been deteriorating into a state of disrepair as it lay dormant and unused at the Ballarat Aerodrome.
Now finally, with its roof caving in and stumps sinking into the ground, the historic site that once housed wireless air gunner trainees will be restored for public use.
Years of public campaigning has paid off for RAAF Association members determined to see the site, now known as Hut 48, returned to is former glory.
Ballarat Civic Hall Tells a Ryder-Cheshire Story
‘On Tuesday 5th May 1964 a meeting was called in the Lower Civic Hall in Ballarat where Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO, DFC, Famous Bomber Pilot, was scheduled to address a Public Meeting on his experiences for the lepers and sick in India. Due to overwhelming public response, the meeting was rescheduled to the Big Hall from the original venue of the Little Hall’.
It was recorded in The Ballarat Courier on Wednesday 6th May 1964, that 900 people attended the event. The Mayor, C R Webb, chaired the meeting.
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - September 2018
BATTLE OF BRITAIN COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE ~ 78TH ANNIVERSARY
It was a cold cloudy day on Sunday 16th September when the 78th Anniversary
of the Battle of Britain was commemorated at Ballarat in the very capable
organising hands of Air Force Association of Victoria Ballarat Branch President
Mr Tom Roberts.
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - June 2019
In this edition: 75TH Anniversary of D Day Commemoration at the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Ballarat....
WW2 RAAF Building On Display at Ballarat Heritage Weekend
The former WWII RAAF Ballarat precinct at the Ballarat aerodrome will ‘come alive’ on Ballarat Heritage Weekend 25 and 26 May...
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - October 2018
SAVED FROM THE RUBBISH BIN
Some time ago, a builder, who was demolishing an old suburban house in Melbourne, noticed an envelope with
faded snapshots dumped in a rubbish bin. On recognising these as Air Force related he passed them on to aviation historian Kevin O’Reilly. Now it just so happens that Kevin did his National Service at RAAF Ballarat in 1955, so he recognised that all of the photographs bar one, related to 1WAGS trainees at No 1 Wireless Air Gunners’ School at RAAF Ballarat during WWII.....
Air Force Band Compares Musical Notes with Ballarat Branch
The Air Force Band Wind Quintet entertained Air Force Association's Ballarat Branch members in a special lunchtime performance at Wendouree earlier this month.
Ballarat Branch Newsletter - June 2018
In this edition:
- President's Report;
- RAAF Bradfield Park memories;
- WWI Armistice Military Figures;
- No1 Wireless Air Gunners School;
and more...