The ACT government has been criticised for taking "way too long" to decide the fate of the Canberra Services Club with the future of a controversial land swap deal that would see it move elsewhere in Manuka still up in the air.
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Club president, Michael Kinniburgh, said given almost five years had passed since the original building burnt down in 2011 the organisation's 4000 members, who range in age from 18 to nearly 100, had been very patient.
"We need, in the next four to six weeks, some sort of documentary communication that says 'you [the land swap and the new home plan] are still on, don't you worry about that' I think that's only fair," he said.
Mr Kinniburgh said while this year's Anzac Day program would almost certainly be the last to be held at the site of the former clubhouse due to the redevelopment of the Manuka precinct, there was no clear indication of where the 2017 event would be held.
"It's been fortunate that we've been able to have the 100 years of Gallipoli and the 100 years of the Somme here," he said. "If we do have to leave I guess we're going out batting 100 but I certainly have a sense that things are moving in a different track.
Under the land swap plan engineered by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the services club was to develop new premises in Manuka in conjunction with Defence Housing Australia. That proposal, which has been on the table since early 2014, appears to have stalled.
Mr Kinniburgh said while he had no reason to doubt Mr Barr's assurance the club would be "looked after", the matter was just dragging on with other factors, including the GWS Manuka redevelopment proposal, muddying the waters even further.
"I'm sure meetings are being held, probably involving the ACT government, Greater Western Sydney and other interested parties, in which our future is being discussed and of which we know nothing," he said.
"I'm not suggesting this is necessarily sinister but we do need further assurances that all parties have our best interests at heart given so much is happening outside our control and knowledge."
The issue has been further complicated by the club's purchase of the ACT Rugby Union Club's Barton premises in August last year.
Mr Kinniburgh defended the move, saying the organisation had an obligation to provide its members with a venue and to also give the war widows somewhere to meet.
"We've lost a lot of time and [that is why] we made a decision as a board to go and get something to hold us over," he said. "Our members, who are very loyal, were coming to us and saying 'what are you doing?'. Our members needed somewhere to go and our history needed somewhere to be."
He said the Canberra war widows, which had relied on the club as a venue for decades had also been effectively left homeless by the fire.
The club is determined to ensure that if 2016 is the last Anzac Day at the historic site it will be remembered for years.
"We're looking to have what will probably be the biggest event we've ever had here," he said. "We normally get about 1000 people. If it is the last we want people to go back and say 'well, it was the last but it was one of the best'."
The Canberra Services Club dates back to October 1939 when a volunteers association was formed to provide comforts for local service personnel. Lady Gowrie, the wife of the then-Governor-General Lord Gowrie, was president until 1944.
