“I fear it is broken to the point that it can’t be repaired,” he said.

“It is all marble, and there are many chips broken off.

“It would cost a lot of of money to restore it to how it was.”  

The marble statue, depicting an Australian World War I soldier, was broken right off the cenotaph.

“When the rifle was broken, we were quoted $3500 to fix it, and that was just the rifle, so you can imagine how much the whole statue would be,” Mr Blanch said.

It was originally placed to commemorate those who served in the 1914-18 war, and has had names of servicemen and women from the Nelligen district who have served in subsequent wars added.

Mr Blanch, who served during the Vietnam War, said the statue was in the care of a Progress Association member.

“We are waiting for a stonemason’s assessment,” he said.

“We don’t know what we are going to do. We are going to contact Veterans’ Affairs and the Australian War Memorial to see what options we have.”

It is understood that Batemans Bay Police have interviewed a group of people suspected of the vandalism.

Mr Blanch said that rumours were rife in Nelligen about the suspects and their motives for the offence, and that the people of the village were “absolutely” upset about the vandalism.

“There is a bit of feeling,” he said. 

“There are families of people who went to war and people who themselves went to war from here that still live here.”

One Facebook posted stated: “A young ******** decided to desecrate our war memorial.”

Bega MP Andrew Constance has expressed his outrage at the vandalism, and what he would like to see done about it. 

“This is a vile, sickening, low-life act,” he said. “I want those that did this to feel the full force of the law.

“I believe that they should front the RSL and apologise, and front veterans and apologise.

“They should have to hear the veterans tell them stories of why we are the country we are.”