In Kangaroo Flat, RSL secretary Craig Chilver said the number of people paying their respects at the suburb’s memorial site had quadrupled in that time.

“About five or six years ago we were lucky to get three hundred people at the main service and we had about 14 or 15 wreaths that we laid,” he said.

“[Now] we’ve got anything up to 3000 people, plus we’ve now got something like 44 or 45 wreaths that are laid at the services at both Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.”

The increased interest has meant the services have outgrown the modest High Street soldiers memorial, which Mr Chilver said is overdue for an upgrade.

To that end, the RSL is applying for an $80,000 state government grant to revamp the site in time for Anzac Day 2018, complete with the names of the 65 men from the area who fought in the First World War.

“Those 65 people who signed up in Kangaroo Flat, they’re Kangaroo Flat people and their families still live in Kangaroo Flat,” he said.

“All the soldiers like Billy Forrest, he was a Korean veteran, he signed up ready to do his thing and he’s not remembered anywhere, he was a staunch Kangaroo Flatian, he fought for us in Korea and people like him are not known because their names are not anywhere.”

Mr Chilver said the history of the Anzacs was deeply interwoven with the Kangaroo Flat community but it was time for a more official recognition.

“If I said Danson Avenue in Kangaroo Flat was [named] because the Danson brothers went to war you’d say ‘well I didn’t know that’ but if the name Danson was on the memorial and the regiment and the date he was killed is there then it’s a story in itself, anyone can go and see it,” he said.

The Kangaroo Flat RSL has contributed almost $6000 to planning the memorial so far and is in discussions with the City of Greater Bendigo about providing the balance of the $100,000 construction cost.