Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the motion by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The member for Fremantle and I have something in common: Claude was living in the electorate of Swan when he passed away but he also, as the member for Fremantle said, spent time living in the Fremantle electorate.

Claude was the last surviving combat male from World War I. He lived in WA in the electorate of Swan at the Gracewood hostel in Salter Point. For those who do not know Salter Point, it is a peaceful area along the Swan River, and I am sure it would have been a great and peaceful place for him to spend his last days. I know the staff of Gracewood will be missing him, as will his family and all those who knew him.

In my small way, on behalf of the people of the electorate of Swan, I wish to pass on my condolences to Claude's family. Claude did not like war and he saw it as his job so he did what he had to do. He was typical of many veterans who do not glorify war, but at the same time he was a symbol of the men and women of the Allies who fought to preserve our way of life and the many freedoms and rights we enjoy as a society. He along with his fellow Allied force members, whether they be men or women, were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for their countries. We have recently held Anzac ceremonies all over Australia and other parts of the world to recognise the fallen members of Claude's troop and Allied forces in conflicts around the world, but particularly the ones Australian and New Zealand forces fought in. People like Claude are symbols and reminders to us of these valiant men and women.

I have taken some details from the Sydney Morning Herald article by Gerry Carman, which gives us an insight into the man who was referred to as 'the last of the last':

As a centenarian, he retained a sense of humour, insisting a laugh was good for the senses and the soul. Asked the secret of his longevity, he responded: ''Don't die.''

He was also the oldest man living in Australia when he died.

Towards the end, a degenerative eye disorder, exacerbated by a fall, meant Choules relied on touch. But overall, he appeared to be in remarkably good health.

His daughter, Anne Pow, attributed his long life to his overall fitness, healthy lifestyle and a happy, contented disposition that allowed him to eat and sleep well to the end.

He didn't own a car until he was 50 and rode a bicycle everywhere. And, his wife, Ethel, a children's nurse, ensured the family always had a healthy, balanced diet long before modern health fads took hold.

Claude Stanley Choules, who held dual British and Australian nationality, was born on March 3, 1901, at Wyre Piddle, Pershore, in Worcestershire, one of five children of Madelin and Henry, a haberdasher and gambler. His mother abandoned the family when he was a young child - for many years he thought she had died - and his older brothers were sent to different family homes while his father raised him and his sisters, Phyllis and Gwen. This would later shape his make-up as a considerate, conscientious and attentive father, polite to all.

Choules dropped out of school at 14 and fibbed about his age to join the navy in 1915. The previous year he had tried to join the army as a bugle boy when he learnt that his brothers, Douglas and Leslie, were serving in the British Army. Both had fought at Gallipoli before going on to fight on the Western Front in France, where Douglas was gassed and died a year later and Leslie won the Military Medal for bravery.

After initial training on HMS Impregnable, at one time a 140-gun square-rigged wooden battleship, Choules served in the North Sea on HMS Revenge, flagship of the Royal Navy's first battle squadron.

He witnessed two historic events at the end of the Great War: the surrender of the Imperial German Navy at the Firth of Forth off Scotland's east coast, on November 21, 1918, 10 days after the armistice; and he was present at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands on June 21, 1919, when German admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered his interned fleet to be scuttled. Preventive action limited the scuttling to 52 of the 74 ships.

Between 1920 and 1923, Choules served in the Mediterranean before being seconded with 11 other Royal Navy personnel to come to Australia in 1926 on loan to the RAN as an instructor at Flinders Naval Depot on the Mornington Peninsula.

On the way to Australia, on the passenger ship SS Diogenes, Choules met Ethel Wildgoose, a Scot on her way to Melbourne, and they married not long after.

Choules asked for a permanent transfer to the RAN. He returned to Britain for courses to qualify as a chief torpedo and anti-submarine instructor and he was also on duty for the construction of the RAN's heavy cruisers, Australia and Canberra. He was part of the commissioning crew of HMAS Canberra, in which he served until 1931.

Choules took his discharge from the RAN that year but remained in the reserve; he rejoined the RAN the following year as a torpedo and anti-submarine instructor, with the rank of chief petty officer. During World War II, he served as the RAN's senior demolition expert in Western Australia. Early in the war, he disposed of the first German mine to wash up on Australia's shores, near Esperance in Western Australia. During the dark days of 1942, he set explosives to blow up oil tanks and placed depth charges in ships unable to leave Fremantle Harbour in anticipation of a Japanese landing.

Had the Japanese invaded, he would also have had to ride a bicycle about 500 kilometres south to Albany to blow up harbour facilities there.

He remained in the RAN after the war and transferred to the Naval Dockyard Police, which enabled him to stay in the service until 1956, five years longer than regulations allowed for RAN ratings, who had to retire at 50.

But Choules was not done with the sea. He bought a crayfish boat and spent 10 years fishing with Ethel. He also shot rabbits and culled kangaroos - until he saw the film Bambi.

Despite his military record, Choules became a pacifist. He was known to have disagreed with the celebration of Australia's most important war memorial holiday, Anzac Day, and refused to march in annual commemoration parades.

An excellent ballroom dancer, he had pumps made for his whirls across the dance floor doing the foxtrot, which he taught his daughters and grandchildren. He also loved to play the mouth organ; not surprisingly, his favourite tunes were seas shanties, including What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?

Ethel Choules died in 2006, aged 98, and Claude spent his last years at the Gracewood Hostel at Salter Point in Perth.

His death follows that of American Frank Buckles, who died in February, also aged 110, and who, until then, had been the oldest surviving veteran of World War I. He'd been an ambulance driver near the Western Front. … Claude Choules is survived by his children, Daphne, Anne and Adrian, 13 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Claude Choules was a symbol of those before our time and our generation who gave to their country—did not ask what they could take from their country but were prepared to give to their country. A lot of us should remember those qualities and those character traits as we go about our daily lives and see what we can give to this country in memory of people like Claude Choules, to celebrate his contribution to Britain and to Australia.

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