Sturt Reserve anti-vax display set up metres from Anzac Day Dawn Service location

An anti-vax display has been torn down after being set up just meters from where an Anzac Day Dawn Service is to be held.

The display, dubbed ‘Forest of the Fallen’, was set up on Sunday at the Sturt Reserve near Murray Bridge, South Australia.

The memorial claimed to show photos and information of people who suffered medical injuries or died after receiving the Covid vaccine.

The display was set up just 400 meters away from where an Anzac Day Dawn Service will be held on Tuesday.

Several memorials have been erected across the country and some have drawn criticism after one person was forced to reassure friends and family that he was alive after his photo was used on one of the posters.

The signs posted at Murray Bridge were removed just hours after they were posted, following backlash.

Michael Sedgman, chief executive officer of Rural City of Murray Bridge, told Daily Mail Australia he was not aware of the anti-vax protest and it had not been approved.

“We respect people’s right to protest and make statements. We certainly encourage any organization to exercise those rights in accordance with due process and with respect for the veterans of many war zones,” he said.

Mr Sedgman had asked organizers for permission to stage the protest, it would have been ‘judged on its merits’.

Murray Bridge Mayor Wayne Thorley said he respected the right to express an opinion but warned that Anzac Day should not be ‘hijacked’.

“Anzac Day is about people who have served in the military and their fallen comrades… I don’t think this should be the area and focus for other issues,” Mr Thorley said.

Similar Forest of the Fallen displays have been put up nationwide by those who claim the Covid vaccines have caused widespread deaths and injuries.

In March, a Forest of the Fallen was set up on Adelaide’s Christies Beach and the organizer, calling her only Lorraine, explained its purpose in a YouTube video.

She said it was “a reflection of injuries and deaths related to Australia’s Covid-19 vaccines.”

We give a voice to the silent. These people are very grateful that we are now telling their story publicly,” she said.

Lorraine explained that there are signs at the front that remember the dead.

“We put a flower on each of the dead and we hold a minute’s silence as a mark of respect in the morning after we put on the screening,” she said.

One of the people on the boards is Barclay McGain, a conservative student activist who is studying at the University of Queensland.

He was forced to come forward and reassure his friends and family that he was alive, fearing that the sign would lead some to believe that he had actually died.

“I just wanted to say, despite the wishes of some people no doubt, that I’m not really dead yet,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Actually, I’m actually doing pretty well at the moment — fine, happy, and capable.

‘If I were dead I’d hope I wasn’t randomly buried somewhere in South Australia, but I suppose you can’t pick these things either, can you?

“Anyway, I thought I’d make that clear, cheers!”

McGain, 23, told Daily Mail Australia his post was a bit tongue in cheek.

“I don’t think people really thought I was dead,” he said. “When I hear that term ‘fallen soldier’, I think someone has died.”

Mr McGain said he had had myopericarditis, which involves inflammation of the heart muscle and increases the risk of a heart attack, after receiving his second Pfizer injection in December 2021.

He said it has been certified by doctors as a vaccine injury and he has to go to Brisbane’s Mater Hospital for monthly checks and the condition forced him to retire from sports in 2022.

Australia’s vaccine watchdog Therapeutic Goods Administration has assured residents’ vaccines are safe.

Side effects to the vaccine are rare, occurring about every two out of every 1,000 shots.

According to a June 2022 report, there were eight deaths in Australia confirmed to be caused by a blood clotting disorder after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Of the 64.4 million Covid vaccine doses administered across Australia, only 137,210 adverse events have been reported to the TGA.

The majority of patients experienced mild symptoms such as fever, headache and sore arm that did not require medical attention or were even caused by the jab.

Daily Mail Australia reached out to Murray Bridge City Council and organizers of the Forest of the Fallen protest for comment.