Weipa RSL sub-branch president and veteran Lloyd Williams talks about his passion for paying tribute to those who have served as National Volunteer Week 2025 comes to a close. Photo: Supplied.
As National Volunteer Week comes to a close, a Weipa local is being highlighted for his efforts with the local RSL sub-branch in paying tribute to those who have served.
As a veteran himself, Lloyd Williams joined the Weipa sub-branch in 2012 after transitioning out of the Australian Defence Force, and just two years later, he was fully immersed as its president in 2014.
“I was asked to attend by a couple of members of the RSL, so I went to a couple of meetings, and found the group to be quite amiable and easy to get along with,” he said.
“I enjoy the camaraderie, mostly, and it’s the friendships you get, regardless of rank or status or history.”
Mr Williams served in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) reserves for 28 years, which included 20 years with No 13 Squadron in Darwin, and an eight-year stint as an electrician at Weipa’s RAAF Base Scherger.
These days, his focus lies on uniting the Weipa community for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day commemorations at the local memorial.
“To me, it gets better every year, like this year at Anzac Day, we had, I’m guessing, more than 60 kids in the march,” Mr Williams said.
“To me, that means everything, that’s passing the message onto the future generations of what Anzac Day is all about.”
Knowing how important Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services are for the community, Mr Williams has been working on a Memorial Walk project to give the community another opportunity to honour local service personnel.
“So far, we have implemented a beautiful steel memorial statue that natural light shines through, but the bulk of the project will be historical signage for residents to view and learn more about local war history,” he explained.
“I’ve got a historian from Cairns chasing up to give us factual sum, who’s been prominent with the Napranum War Memorial history out that way.”
The veteran said highlighting the Indigenous heroes who were not historically recognised and celebrated was an important part of the project’s signage.
“Historical knowledge develops respect, and it’s not only respect for European soldiers, it’s also respect for the local Indigenous soldiers and those that took part in rescuing downed aircraft crew,” he said.
“There’s quite a few that joined up, but unfortunately, like Indigenous soldiers all over the country, they were not granted the same rights as European soldiers, and they weren’t recognised in the same way, which they should’ve been, because they did the same damn job.
“All kinds of events have happened on the Cape, and so few people know factually what happened with all of them, and if I could get half of the events put on signs, it educates the community.”
