{"id":750082,"date":"2026-06-21T03:53:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T03:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/750082\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T03:53:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T03:53:20","slug":"veterans-in-outback-town-of-bourke-recognised-by-quilts-of-valour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/750082\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans in outback town of Bourke recognised by Quilts of Valour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Bartley returned from the Vietnam War in 1971, but had to wait 16 years to receive an official welcome home.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Wiradjuri man has received war medals and an OAM.<\/p>\n

But most recently, 55 years after returning home, he was recognised for his six years of service in the Australian Army with a handmade quilt.<\/p>\n

“I’m so proud. Pleased as bloody punch,” Mr Bartley said.<\/p>\n

“It was such a surprise for someone to give me something with such meaning.<\/p>\n

“I’m not one to say I was a hero or anything like that in my service in Vietnam, but someone thought that I deserved to get something like that.”<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

From right: Jeff Askew, George Milovejevic and Victor Bartley in Vietnam. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Bartley was one of three veterans living in the western NSW town of Bourke who were given quilts from charity Quilts of Valour Australia.<\/p>\n

The quilts are designed to offer comfort and recognition of the sacrifice of Australian Defence Force personnel and the families who have lost loved ones in service.<\/p>\n

Anyone can nominate a veteran or serving ADF personnel to receive one.<\/p>\n

“My wife has put it on the lounge so anyone who comes to visit will see it,” Mr Bartley said.<\/p>\n

“I just marvel at the work these people have done.”\"A<\/p>\n

Victor Bartley spent six years in the Australian Army. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Bartley was 20 when Aboriginal people were finally recognised as Australian citizens and had to lie about his Aboriginal heritage to get into the army, indicating his nationality was British.<\/p>\n

He turns 79 next month.<\/p>\n

“To me, this recognition means that we still have a good country, we still have good people who want to thank you for your service,” he said.<\/p>\n

Laticia Hollman is a volunteer from Queensland who hand-delivered the pieces to western, NSW.<\/p>\n

“Every quilt is different \u2014 there’s never one the same,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We see everything from tears of joy to thanks, especially Vietnam veterans. They didn’t get a very good response coming home and some of the vets when I have awarded them a quilt they are like, ‘Wow, this is the only thanks I’ve ever had’ and they are just overwhelmed.”<\/p>\n

\"Smiling<\/p>\n

Victor Bartley (right), with Kevin Gascoigne at the 2018 Anzac Day march in Bourke. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Bartley said he has always tried to focus on the people who celebrated Vietnam veterans.<\/p>\n

“We appreciated the people who mattered,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They appreciated that we went to serve our country overseas because our country sent us.”<\/p>\n

Loading…Surprise over a cup of tea<\/p>\n

Ms Hollman works with family members to create a surprise for each recipient.<\/p>\n

“A quilt is a powerful gift of love,” she said.<\/p>\n

“When we are organising the delivery of the quilts, we try to do it so it’s a secret, so we get a really good surprise response.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kelly Lienesch also received a quilt. (Supplied: Kelly Lienesch)<\/p>\n

Sheila Lowe also received a quilt on behalf of her late husband Keith’s service, and former RAAF medic Kelly Lienesch was a recipient as well.<\/p>\n

Quilts of Valour Australia was started more than a decade ago following the loss and injury of Defence personnel in Afghanistan in 2010.<\/p>\n

“We have representatives of Quilts of Valour in every state in Australia,” Ms Hollman said.<\/p>\n

“Anyone can make quilts or donate to them.”<\/p>\n

The charity also operates in the US and Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Bartley returned from the Vietnam War in 1971, but had to wait 16 years to receive an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[360169,64,63,360170,44,360168,360171],"class_list":["post-750082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-aboriginal-soldiers","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-vietnam-veterans","tag-news","tag-quilts-of-valour-australia","tag-victor-bartley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}