Victory for the Tullamarine War Memorial Hall Campaign!
Last night (Monday 24 August 2026), Hume City Council voted to restore the historically significant name of the Tullamarine War Memorial Hall - formally recognising the hall’s original commemorative purpose and an important part of Tullamarine’s history. It also ensures that the new exterior signage aligns with the original interior signage and the Australian War Memorial's Places of Pride register as a war memorial hall.
This is a wonderful outcome for Tullamarine and the culmination of a sustained community campaign to ensure that the history and significance of this much-loved local hall are recognised and preserved for future generations.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who signed the physical and online petitions supporting the restoration of the name. Thank you also to our residents, all of our Melrose Drive shops and businesses, Tullamarine Football Club, Josh Bull MP for Sunbury and Jo Briskey, and supporters who advocated for this important recognition.
Special acknowledgement must also go to Glenroy RSL Sub Branch, RSL Victoria and Hume History at Broadmeadows Museum for their support of the campaign, and to everyone who helped collect signatures, shared the petition, sent supportive public comments into Council, or simply helped spread the word.
Importantly, restoring the name Tullamarine War Memorial Hall also recognises the extraordinary efforts of the Tullamarine Progress Association and our residents who worked to make the hall a reality. The Tullamarine Progress Association played a central role in raising the original funds required for the hall’s construction, with local community members giving their time, energy and money to the cause. Sid Hedger, Leo Dineen and Major Walter Murphy, together with the many other members and supporters of the Tullamarine Progress Association (at the time, the Axon family collected monies from letterboxes along Gordon Street!), deserve to be remembered for their determination to provide Tullamarine with a hall that would also serve as a lasting memorial to local servicemen. The building itself stands as a testament to the community spirit and voluntary effort of an earlier generation of Tullamarine residents.
Most importantly, last nights’s decision helps restore recognition to the 15 Tullamarine Second World War servicemen whose service and sacrifice inspired the creation of this memorial as far back as the 1950s, with fundraising continuing on into well into the late 1960s. Their connection to our local history deserves to be remembered. Alfred Cock and Herbert Doyle were specifically mentioned in last night’s council meeting. Both men lost their lives on active service in historically significant events in Australia’s Second World War military history – Alfred Cock was lost in the sinking of the Japanese prisoner-of-war transport ship, the Montevideo Maru, while Herbert Doyle was killed during the Siege of Tobruk. Alfred Cock and Herbert Doyle are the only 2 Second World War servicemen listed on our First World War obelisk on the corner of Broadmeadows Road and Dalkeith Avenue - the other 13 of our Second World War servicemen are not recognised or listed anywhere else in Tullamarine. Our war memorial hall was funded by locals to recognise these 13 servicemen too.
It is also important to clarify that the restoration of our hall's historic name does not change the name of the adjoining Tullamarine Community Library. The library was built after the construction of the original hall and will continue to be known as the Tullamarine Community Library. Council’s decision specifically restores the historic name of the hall and recognises its original commemorative purpose and that it still should be used as a community facility.
Thank you to the Hume City Councillors and Council officers, particularly Cr. Naim Kurt - Hume City Council, who listened to the Tullamarine community, investigated the hall’s history, and supported the restoration of its rightful name.