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PAST
TO PRESENT: Davin Evans (Living History Group) wears
the WWII uniform of a corporal in his role in the catafalque
party at Brisbane’s Shrine of Remembrance.
Photo: Graham Davis
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REMEMBERING:
Defence Minister Dr Brendan Nelson at the Australian War
Memorial in Canberra on Remembrance Day.
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Volume 49, No. 22, November 30, 2006
By Michael Brooke
Canberra
A crowd gathered on Anzac Parade outside the Australian War
Memorial for the 11th hour of the 11th month. The Federation
Guard was on show and visitors included Defence Minister, Dr
Brendan Nelson, who spoke at the service.
“It was easy from the safe distance of this century to
settle for the abstract, the broad brushstrokes of history –
to forget sacrifices made in our name,” Dr Nelson said
in his address.
“Today we pause with awkward humility, free and confident
heirs to a legacy of self-sacrifice in commitment to one another,
our nation and the ideals of mankind,” he said.
“Family epitaphs to the dead, in so few words, say so much
of love, life, loss and us.
“Each of them had only one life – only one chance
to use it in a way that served the interests of others and the
welfare of our nation.
“All who wear Australia’s service uniform remind us
that there are some truths by which we live that are worth fighting
to defend.
“We honour them by the way we use our lives and shape our
nation.”
Dr Nelson called on Australians to recommit ourselves to never
place position above principle. None of us is ‘just a private’.
Their Australia – our Australia would always judge values
as more important and our responsibility to one another would
always transcend and define our rights.
“We now face distant horizons and new but no less ubiquitous
or dangerous threats to that for which this nation has stood
in its short history,” Dr Nelson said.
“We need these qualities more than ever. To feel some connection
with this place, with the Unknown Soldier and the names on these
walls is to be fully Australian.
“The guns fell silent on this day, at this hour 88 years
ago. No words can do justice to the lives of the 61,720 Australians
who were then dead.
“How do we bring meaning to 155,000 Australians wounded,
returning as they did forever changed into the arms of families?
“Much that is precious was left behind. We did not see
them in battle, their courage, support of one another and irreverent
humour. Nor did we sense their heroic fear.
“They forged national identity in values that are ours.
Ones that make us who we are.
“The nature and magnitude of their sacrifice, from a nation
of barely five million people who twice rejected conscription,
laid the foundation for belief in ourselves. Our young nation
emerged to take a more confident place in the world.”
No group of Australians had given more, nor worked harder to
shape and define our identity than those who wore – and
now wear – the uniform of the Australian soldier, sailor
or airman, Dr Nelson said.
“After the bloodbath that was Fromelles, Sergeant Simon
Fraser spent three days bringing in the wounded.
“Exhausted, a voice rose through the fog from no man’s
land, ‘Don’t forget me, cobber’. “He didn’t.
We won’t. We never will. Lest we forget.”
Brisbane
Senior officers of the three armed services joined more than
200 ex-service men and women, VIPs and members of the public
for the Remembrance Day service at Brisbane’s Shrine of
Remembrance.
Their uniforms contrasted with those of others – the serge
jackets and trousers of WWI and WWII troops, the red fez of
a returned Turkish member and the white “pillbox”
hat of the French military.
Representing the ADF was CMDR Bob Plath and LEUT Matt Rowe,
RANR, deputised for the Governor of Queensland, Mrs Quentin
Bryce in his role as Her Excellency’s aide-de-camp.
Brisbane’s service was conducted in brilliant sunshine
with four members of the Living History Group, two wearing the
uniform of a WWI soldier, the others the uniform of a WWII soldier,
providing the catafalque party.
RSL State President Doug Formby welcomed the crowd to the ceremony
before listening to nine-year-old Kyra Scott from Ferny Grove
State School recite “In Flanders’ Field”.
Among those to join LEUT Rowe, Mr Formby and the Service representatives
in laying wreaths at the Eternal Flame were the Deputy Premier
Anna Blyth, the Lord Mayor, CR Campbell Newman, leaders of sub-branch
groups and members of the public. The service concluded with
the National Anthem.
– Graham Davis
Melbourne
The service was held at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.
The official party included Governor of Victoria Professor David
de Kretser AC, Victorian Premier The Hon. Steve Bracks, Chairman
of the Shrine of Remembrance John Taylor, Melbourne Lord Mayor
John So, Defence Service Chiefs, Consular Representatives, RSL
and Legacy Members and Veterans Associations Representatives.
Poppies were planted in the grass out the front of the Shrine
as part of the commemoration.
