Volunteer Defence Corps - Windback Wednesday

In July 1940 Council agreed to fill in and level an area east of Burnside Town Hall, on the corner of Hyde Street and Greenhill Road, to be used as a Parade Ground by members of the Returned Soldier’s League Volunteer Defence Corps. The Burnside Parade Ground was used for marches, weapons training, trench digging exercises and musketry drills.

The Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) was a part-time volunteer military force of World War II. Established in 1940, it initially comprised of ex-servicemen who had served in World War I. From 1941 the Corp was controlled by the government, who gave the organisation the role of training for guerrilla warfare and collecting local intelligence.

Photographs of the VDC training at the Burnside Parade Ground in 1942/43 courtesy of the State Library of South Australia.