DIGGERS’ BADGE ON SALISBURY PLAIN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18578, 28 September 1928, Page 8

DIGGERS’ BADGE ON SALISBURY PLAIN.

LONDON, September 18. The official secretary of Australia House (Mr T. Trumble), in a letter to “The Times” announces that the Lornmonwealth authorities, after long efforts, have succeeded in overcoming former difficulties with land owners at Fovant Downs, near Salisbury Plain, enabling the renovation and permanent maintenance of a huge Commonwealth Badge which Australian troops carved in chalk on a hillside near the village of Compton Chamberlayne during their training. The badge is at present partly overgrown with grass and weeds, like those of the Warwickshire Regiment, the London Rifle Brigade and the Y.M.C.A. Others have completely disappeared in the undergrowth. Several correspondents of ‘The Times” have been urging that all should be cleaned and maintained in memory of their gallant makers. The badge, a huge rising sun, is on the slope of a steep hill, on the summit of which is an old Roman camp. It can be seen for many miles. During the war there was a dispute between the military authorities and the man on whose property the badge is carved. The landowner claimed rent for the space occupied by the design. The matter was settled by a payment by the Commonwealth on the condition that the money was devoted to a war charity.