Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with other members in marking the death and honouring the life of Claude Stanley Choules, who was the last living combat veteran from World War I. In doing so, I endorse the remarks of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and those of my parliamentary colleagues. If there is a theme to all our contributions it is, understandably, that of remembrance. It is a fact of life that time marches ever forward and it is a part of the human condition that successive generations constitute the links we have between the present day and our history. Claude Choules was the last living contact we had with the combat experience of World War I. On hearing of Claude's death, my thoughts turned to my grandfather, who served in the Middle East in World War One and in the Pacific in World War II. Jesse Lilburn 'Pat' Parke fudged his age upwards to be involved in the First World War, and downwards for the Second World War. He died of health problems related to his war service, before I was born. I am sure it is the case for many Australians that the passing of Claude Choules resonates strongly with their memory of relatives who were directly involved in World War I.

As long as Claude lived, a human connection remained to that time, a human connection remained to the history that also involved our grandfathers and great-uncles. Now that thread has been severed and we will have to make a greater effort as time passes so that we continue to remember, so that children born this week, whose lives never intersected with Claude Choules, will nevertheless come to learn and understand the horrors of war and the incredible suffering and sacrifices made by Australians in the cause of peace.

In this context I note that we will shortly mark the centenary of Anzac, which I am sure will provide a significant opportunity for us to remember as a nation and to strengthen our capacity to remember. I am aware, for example, of an effort underway to have added to the war memorial in Fremantle a set of plaques that record the more than 800 local men who lost their lives in World War I. It is a project that I wholeheartedly support.

I would like to note that Claude Choules has a special connection to Fremantle, for there was a time when Fremantle was both his home and to some extent his responsibility. Claude settled in Fremantle between the wars, and in World War II as a naval chief petty officer was apparently charged with the responsibility of rigging vessels in Fremantle harbour so that they could be blown up in the case of invasion. Thankfully, it never came to that. Of course, it never came to that because of the efforts of service personnel like Claude Choules, because of the military and civilian fortitude of tens of millions across the allied nations.

After the Second World War, Claude became a cray fisherman, which was and continues to be a typical Fremantle profession. At 110, Claude Choules was the oldest Australian man and the seventh-oldest man alive, which is incredible. His life spanned a remarkable period of history, including the two most awful conflicts the human race has inflicted on itself. Claude's wife of more than 75 years, Ethel, a nurse, who he met on the ship out to Australia, died when she was 98. Claude cared for her until the end, sleeping on a canvas sheet on the floor by her bed. He is survived by three children, 11 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. Our best wishes and condolences go out to all of them, and I will be honoured to convey these sentiments to Claude's family at his funeral service, which is to be held next Friday, 20 May, at St Johns Anglican Church in Fremantle.

On hearing the news of Claude's death, I called and spoke with Claude's daughter, Anne Pow, who lives in Palmyra in my electorate. Anne made the point to me that Claude hated war and the glorification of war. With all his personal experience, Claude Choules believed that war was pointless; and, as much as he was and is a symbol of remembrance, we should not whitewash the fact that he personally did not like to dwell on the wars. As I understand it, he only marched in Anzac parades when he was ordered to.

Anne wanted to impress on me the fact that her dad was a remarkably happy man. I think that is a quality that comes through even in the photographs that accompany the newspaper stories of his death. I like to think that one of the secrets of his long life was his happiness. He was also clearly a loving and good humoured man and a man devoted to his family. Those are the qualities I believe he would have most wanted to be remembered for.

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