Headstone Project SA raises concerns over federal funding discrepancy for WWI veterans

An organisation that helps to locate and name veterans in unmarked graves in South Australia is raising concerns about whether promised federal funding will be delivered.

The Headstone Project locates World War I veterans in unmarked graves and places a military service headstone there to recognise their service to Australia.

President of the SA branch, John Brownlie, said giving a veteran a headstone cost about $1,500 and that federal government grants contributed $620 toward that cost.

Before the 2022 federal election, Labor committed $3.7 million in funding for the Headstone Project nationally.

Federal budget papers show $1.4 million over five years from 2025-2026 has been allocated for a range of memorial initiatives, including the Marking (First World War) Private Graves Grants program, which is the grant the Headstone Project applies for.

Those grant guidelines, as seen by the ABC, show only $58,000 is available nationally for this financial year.

The Headstone Project SA believes that number to be below what should be available.

Mr Brownlie queried the amount.

"Look at what you've [the federal government] promised, and look at what you've delivered, because there's a vast discrepancy," Mr Brownlie said.

"I think the behaviour of the government, quite frankly, is egregious."

The federal government did not provide an on-the-record response to the concerns raised by the Headstone Project SA, but the ABC understands all eligible applications have been awarded grant funding.

Ian Hopley is a retired police officer who now assists with finding graves, determining that a veteran is buried in the grave and then researching and contacting living relatives.

The team searches cemetery records and picks out males of enlistment age born between 1870 and 1900; they then cross-check that with the national archives and find the graves of forgotten veterans.

Mr Hopley said the SA branch had provided headstones to nearly 200 servicemen and women and that about 500 were known around the state still to be waiting.

"Our work will go on for a very long time, provided we get the right funding and support," he said.

Mr Hopley said he came from a military family and believed the people in unmarked graves should be recognised for their service.

"They certainly deserve some sort of recognition, not just a patch of dirt where no one knows where they are,"

he said.