If you've been to a service at the Shrine, you will have seen our Shrine Guard dressed in their distinct uniform. And this year marks 90 years of their service to the Shrine.
In this episode you'll uncover how the Shrine Guard were formed, what their role looks like today, and importantly, how long it takes to shine their shoes with Senior Protective Services Officer David Rose'Meyer.
Transcript
LAURA THOMAS: The Shrine of Remembrance acknowledge the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which the Shrine stands, and pay our respects to their elders, past and present. As a place of remembrance and storytelling, we honour their deep connection to country and waterways shaped by generations of stories and memories.
LAURA THOMAS: Welcome to the Shrine Stories podcast, a place where we take you beyond the stories behind the objects on our gallery floor. My name is Laura Thomas, and in this episode of Shrine Stories, we're marking a very special anniversary. If you've been to a service at the Shrine, you will have seen our Shrine Guard dressed in their distinct uniform, and this year, 2025, marks 90 years of their service to the Shrine. In this episode of Shrine Stories, we uncover how the Shrine Guard were formed, what their role looks like today, and importantly, how long it takes to shine their shoes. To share all this is Senior Protective Services Officer David Rose'Meyer. Welcome David, thanks for coming in.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Thank you, Laura, for the opportunity.
LAURA THOMAS: Now, I was hoping you could start by telling me about why and how the Shrine Guard was formed.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Well back in 1933 and just after the decision to build a Shrine, it was the Premier at the time, Sir Stanley Argyle, I believe, who came up with the idea that a place like the Shrine with a military background should have been protected by military. But the Federal Government at time decided that wasn't appropriate. It should be looked after by a policing force due to the fact that they needed arrest powers, and the arrest powers weren't available to military guards, so it was put out that they get service personnel who were now, at the time, were police members and the most highly decorated military service personnel coming back from the First World War to do that particular function, and that's how, how the Shrine Guard was actually formed.
LAURA THOMAS: Now, what was the criteria to become a Shrine Guard when they were originally formed 90 years ago?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: 90 years ago, the actual criteria was that they all had military service. So, when that happened, they actually put out applications, and they got 250 at the time. But out of that 250 again, most of them were fairly highly decorated, and one of them being George Ingram, he was a Victoria Cross recipient, so the criteria was military service and fairly highly decorated at that stage.
LAURA THOMAS: And these 250 men that applied, and then 14 that got through the process, how do you think they felt being chosen to protect and serve a place like the Shrine when they had seen conflict themselves and probably lost some of their brothers in arms, I guess in that conflict.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Well, that's the thing, they probably would have been the best people to protect it, because they had empathy. They knew what they had been through themselves, and they certainly wanted their digger mates to be remembered and not forgotten about because of what they went through. So that was probably the, the best outcome as to the reason why they were chosen. And I'm sure they felt the same way. With the current Shrine Guards, we sort of feel the same way that we don't want to lower their standards or what they did and the reasons why they did the job.
LAURA THOMAS: What was the original role of the Shrine Guard back in the '30s and onwards?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Basically, to look after the building. The laws of those days were fairly, fairly stringent. You couldn't do this, you couldn't do that. So, they basically just made sure that people who came onto the Shrine recognised what the place represented, and that they made sure that the dignity of the Shrine was upheld.
LAURA THOMAS: How has the Shrine Guard evolved? Because one big spoiler is we have females on board now.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Yes, the females, well, the female Shrine Guard have certainly been around since about 1995. Marie Thomas was the first female shrine guard in '95. Since then, I've worked with all the other female Shrine Guards, and we've certainly got a few now. And the female Shrine Guards do exactly what the males did and still do.
LAURA THOMAS: Now, anyone who has seen the Shrine Guard will know that you have a very distinct uniform that you wear during ceremonial duties. Tell me a bit about that.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Well, the uniform basically represents the Australian Light Horse. The difference is you'll find that our leggings are a full leather wrap around the calves in between the knee and the ankle, if you like. They used to have putties before. But the major difference is the actual insignia on our shoulders and also on our hat badges. The hat badges represent the police with the floral emblem, and also on the insignia on the side of our on our shoulders. So, because it is a policing role, they have to have that, whereas the uniform itself, they wanted to have some sort of representation, if you like, of the Light Horse.
LAURA THOMAS: And how long does it take to put on? Because I've heard anything from 10 minutes to half an hour. I want to know what it actually is.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Well, I've been here for about 13 years, and it takes me about 15 to 20 minutes.
LAURA THOMAS: So, you've got it down pat pretty quickly?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: They are better than me.
LAURA THOMAS: I think shining the shoes would be half of it.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: The shining of the shoes. We have time during our course of our shifts, to actually prepare our uniforms. The boots, yeah, for people who have not done military training, a little bit harder to get used to, but they all get shown and it could take anything from up to half, from half an hour to a couple of hours, depending on how fastidious you might want to be. I'm fairly fastidious. I take them home and do them.
LAURA THOMAS: Put on a good TV show and do it in the background. Now, Dave, tell me what motivated you to become one of the Shrine Guards.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: I had previously done military service with the Army Reserves, and I've been in uniform since 1983, so I've done this sort of work for a long time. I was asked in possibly 2010 would I like to do it? And I sort of initially didn't know much about the Shrine Guard, having not been in the Victoria Police for all that long at that stage. Eventually I relented, and I said, 'Yes, why not?'. And the major reason, I suppose, would have been the public relations activity. I was able to be out in the public, educate, if you like, and I like talking to people, so I hope that that is probably one of the prerequisites to being a Shrine Guard. You've got to be accepting of the fact that people, tourists, mainly, will come up to you and ask you questions, and if you relate to them what you know and let them know what the Shrine again, represents and what it means, it helps you in your job, and it makes your job so much easier as well.
LAURA THOMAS: On that, what does day to day look like in your role? You've mentioned, it's a lot of interacting with tourists. What else are you doing?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: We do a lot of training, whether it be just a normal shift, you may want to brush up on some of the drills, the marching and so on, and you're quite within your rights to do that during a course of a shift. But because we also have a dual policing role. We also have paperwork to do, and we do patrols around the Reserve. So that's a policing role, but the rest of it is very much a public relations role. And to again, we're representing the Shrine, and also those who have been here before.
LAURA THOMAS: Let's talk about the ceremonial role that the Shrine Guard play. Because if anyone's been to an Anzac Day or Remembrance Day, or some of our smaller services, our Last Post services, they'll see you all there. So, what are the drills that you're doing during some of these services?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: The drills vary, and of course, you'll get small groups who are assigned to a particular role for the day. It may be flag lowering. There's also protocols in the flag lowering and raising during a ceremony. There's being up on the columns, doing the presenting of arms, or the salute, if you like, to all the veterans that come up the forecourt. We see the Australian flag, we do the salute, and we do a lot of the services that may not be seen straight away by the public. We do them in the Sanctuary. So yeah, we're all trained in different aspects of a particular service. Probably the hardest is what they call the Catafalque, which is basically representing your standing around, it's your head bowed around a grave site, if you like. So that's probably the biggest one. To get to that point, it takes a little bit of training with marching and so on.
LAURA THOMAS: Let's talk about that training. What does that involve before you're able to go and do these services, how long are you having to have practice these drills?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: For those drills, you can train every day. If you're a little bit unsure, the movements and so on, it's best to continue and just do them over and over again until, until you are sort of fairly comfortable with it. Because one foot wrong here can put a lot of other guys out, but generally you don't get thrown into the deep end. And that's the good thing about it. They train you from the start right to the point where you don't look any different from the next guy.
LAURA THOMAS: Do you remember your first big service?
My first big service was Anzac Day 2013, and yeah, I was nervous. But I've done that before, that sort of thing before. But look, you just take it in your stride. And it wasn't too bad. I didn't make any mistakes, so I was pretty comfortable with that. But three services, three Anzac days down the track, I may very well have made a mistake.
LAURA THOMAS: What's your fondest memory of being a Shrine Guard?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Probably the Anzac days. Yeah. Well, I've done, I've done a lot of external services. We do outside services for Blue Ribbon and Victoria Police to the memorials for all the fallen police members and so on, and also the graduation ceremonies for the police and PSOs at the academy. I'd say those sort of services where you're asked to do something a little bit different to what you are here. And the camaraderie is pretty good, too. When you when you're all there for the same purpose, it's, it's quite good.
LAURA THOMAS: It must be pretty incredible. I always think, on Anzac Day, standing up between those colonnades, looking out on the sometimes tens of thousands of people here.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: But you've got also remember, yeah, there are so many people there, but you're not the main focus. People that we're saluting are. So, the representation of the veterans, that's what we're there for, to salute them. And that's another thing, how I make it easy on myself, I say, 'Well, they're not looking at me'. As much as I don't want to make a wrong move, because there are some in the crowd that do look at you, especially if you got family members there, but with the family members, you can pass it off.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: But yeah, it's the veterans that are coming up the forecourt that are the most important people. So, you know, we do what we have to do to give them a little bit of respect.
LAURA THOMAS: Now, as we've mentioned, this year, 2025 marks, the 90th anniversary of the Shrine Guard. How does it feel, and what does it mean to you to be part of the Shrine Guard today and to be carrying on this legacy that was set 90 years ago?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: Certainly, the legacy is important, and, you know, shows a little bit of pride, or a lot of pride, the fact that we're doing what they did so many, so many years ago. It hasn't really changed that much. Certainly, the role, as in the military salutes and all that sort of thing, that hasn't changed. But the fact that, if you look at it this way, I'm hoping that, you know, we'll be remembered 90 years down, down the track as well, for the same reason. We didn't go to war. So, they've got a little bit more up their sleeve, if you like, then we will have 90 years ago. But the fact that we've done our job as police members as well does sit pretty well with me.
LAURA THOMAS: And for any listeners who see Dave or any of the Shrine Guards in their uniform, you're welcome to take a photo with them, aren't they?
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: They're always welcome to come up and take a photo. As I said earlier, a lot of people a little bit reluctant, especially when they see us in the police type uniforms. But whilst we're here, I think we try and make them a little bit more comfortable, and they see us that we're no different to anyone else.
LAURA THOMAS: That's wonderful. Well, thank you so much for sharing the story of the Shrine Guard on this very special anniversary. It's been wonderful to chat with you now.
DAVID ROSE’MEYER: It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
LAURA THOMAS: Thanks for listening to this episode of Shrine Stories. For more, just search Shrine of Remembrance wherever you listen.
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