History of the Club
The club was born with the aim of giving people who are interested in military history an avenue to be able to express their interest. It is an interest that for many people has developed as a result of many movies, books and hobbies such as modeling. The founding members drafted the creation of the club in October 1999. This was to be an organization that would harbor people who had an interest in the history of the largest and bloodiest conflict of the 20th Century that was The Second World War.
In order to encourage people and inform people of the clubs existence it was decided that a website would be an essential tool. A site that covered the purpose, pictures, event reports and other business involving re-enactment was developed and still to this day is being viewed all over the world. Since the website was developed we have had a lot of interest from people from all over the world, people who admire and applaud what we do.
The first event that Ausreenact attended as a Club was the 2000 Military Vehicles day at Corowa on the New South Wales/ Victorian border. On this day, one of the founding members, Kruger exhibited period uniforms and various items that belonged to the World War Two period. His trusty Zundapp DB200 motorcycle was also on display. His presentation was so professional that he made it into the local paper that same week. In the months that followed we had a number of people who came and went, a hobby like re-enacting has certain demands that unfortunately not everyone is able to meet. In May that year we had a training day, which proved to be successful and provided a good avenue for people to get to know each other.
Also in that same year we attended our first historical Timeline event at Old Sydney Town, this venue proved to be fantastic with many period buildings and the presence of other re-enactment groups, it proved to be a great weekend.
With constant improvements and learning from others experiences and knowledge we decided to have another training session. This also proved successful with everyone only wanting to do more training. After the summer break, it was March 2001 and Corowa was again on the agenda. This time Ausreenact decided to make this a big one. We fielded 5 Germans and 1 DRK, also three Australian re-enactors that attended from Sydney. Two of which had made the long haul wearing nothing but their WW2 Australian uniforms. Needless to say that this proved to be very impressive, especially for some of the senior people that attended the event. Once again our men made it into the local newspaper which demonstrates that the interest is well alive in our society.
By July 2001 our membership was comprised of people from places as far as Canada. We had members in all major states. Once again it was time for the Old Sydney Town event which always seems to come around quickly. This time, once again we made our members proud by providing a great display, this attracted more inqueries and people enjoyed the learning given by one of the members on the different types of uniforms worn by the German Army in WW2. Other events that followed that year were the Highlander event in Goulburn and another training weekend.
It was now the beginning of 2002 and this would be the year that Ausreenact developed even further and took the Club to a new level, new members came in and they brought with them a great deal of experience and knowledge. During this year we again attended Corowa, at this event we met a number of new members and developed great links with people from Victoria.
The year also saw the Club take some great leaps forward towards enhancing our popularity within the militaria networks in Sydney. We attended the Military Heritage Day in Moorebank, this again proved to be very successful. The show, the largest of its kind in Sydney, was a great stage to make our unit be known. We received great praise and acknowledgement. That led to another invitation to attend the event in 2003. After that event, some members of the Club make the long trek to Brisbane to participate in History Alive 2002 with the members from Army Group South, this was certainly a great experience that served as a good introduction to live combat for some of the members. In September, Ausreenact attended Old Sydney Town, again to great praise from other re-enactors. As our membership has increased, the constant flow of information has meant that monthly meetings have become necessary. This no doubt assists in the running of the Club but also increases camaraderie. In November 2002 we attended the Arms fair held at Canterbury Racecourse, having re-enactors at arms fairs brings together the ordnance and the people who used them to protect their lives and those of which they loved.
We have carried out the momentum that we gathered last year, we are using that drive to become even more professional and appealing to the wider community. This year we have already attended events such as Corowa 2003, a training session held in the central coast of NSW (in conjunction with 147th Red Army Brigade) and three Arms Fairs (Canterbury and Penrith in Sydney and Melbourne in VIC).
It is important to all current and new members to have knowledge of the history of Ausreenact. This hobby, like any other, requires time, effort and commitment. No doubt in any Club one gets out as much as one puts in. I encourage current and new members to look at themselves not as part of a Club that is like any other but rather as part of an organisation that unlike any other aims to educate people about the history of World War Two. This is history that was made by our ancestors, that is why the generations of today need to pay the necessary respect to represent them fairly and accurately, as much as we are allowed.