Albury Grammar School Vietnam Honour Roll and Tobruk Shield

Vietnam Honour Roll

Timber honour roll with names and dedication in gold lettering. 

The Tobruk Shield

The Albury Grammar School, one of Scots School’s founding schools, had a very close association with the 2/23rd Battalion. Early in 1940, what was to become the Battalion began mobilising at the old Albury Showgrounds. At the time the showgrounds were adjacent to the school and are now the school’s playing field. Being next door neighbours required much cooperation on both sides.

Members of Albury Grammar School Cadet Corps assisted the recruits during the initial training exercises and loaned the rifles to mount the first guard. Bayonet practice was held in the school grounds, now Wilson Oval, much to the delight of the boys. They also watched parades and route marches with envy as many of them were near fighting age. Six Albury Grammar boys later joined the Battalion.

When the Battalion returned to Albury in 1947 to reclaim the Regimental Colours, they presented the corps with a valued memento of their service overseas, The Tobruk Shield. The shield was passed on to the corps in appreciation of the cadet's assistance. It is housed in a special display in the school’s entrance foyer.

The shield was made by the Pioneer Platoon of the Battalion after it came out of Tobruk and moved into camp in Palestine. The manufacture of the shield was a team effort and was at the request of the Battalion Commander, Lieut-Colonel Evans. The metal alloy is from a German Stuka shot down in Tobruk and the wood backing was obtained from a Jewish community near Julis.

The shield was awarded weekly to the particular company who had turned in the best results in terms of cleanliness of company lines, discipline and bearing. Probably the most important factor was the turn-out, drill and bearing of the guard mounted each night for the next 24 hours. The guard moved on a rotational basis between the four rival companies – “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”. The shield stayed with the Battalion throughout its campaigns at El Alamein, New Guinea and Tarakan.

Every year from 1947, a platoon from each House in the corps competed for the shield on a drill basis as part of the ‘Passing-Out Parade’ until the corps was disbanded in 1982.