Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last Thursday marked the 45th anniversary of the legendary Vietnam battle at Long Tan, where 105 Australians and three New Zealanders fought and withstood an attack of some 2,500 Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops in a rubber plantation. At the end of that battle, 18 Australian soldiers had been killed and 24 wounded, while 800 of the North Vietnamese Army and Vietcong had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded. The Battle of Long Tan, involving B Company and D Company 6RAR, was probably the most famous action of Vietnam fought by the Anzacs. As long as Long Tan is remembered as one of the major battles in Vietnam for our troops, it will also represent a day that veterans come together with members of the community to pay their respects on what is now Vietnam Veterans Day.

The Vietnam War was the longest major conflict in which Australians have been involved. It lasted 10 years, from 1962 to 1972. In the electorate of McEwen, as occurs all over Australia, veterans, families, friends and supporters come together to reflect on and remember all of the 62,100 Australian service personnel and civilians who fought in the name of our country, the 521 Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice and the 2,398 who were wounded.

In the nearly four decades since the end of the Vietnam War, there has been much heartache and much healing. Although people will differ in their opinions on the Vietnam War, I personally want to put on the record my total admiration and respect for and thanks to all those who bravely went to war and how sorry I am for the mistreatment they received on their return. Our troops deserve our unqualified support and respect. These brave men and women are the ones who are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country and the beliefs we hold so dearly. For that courage and bravery, I want to say thank you. I, like many Australians, have visited Vietnam and been through Phuoc Tuy province and walked through the rubber plantations at Long Tan. I have been to the Australian task force base at Nui Dat and been through the tunnels at Cu Chi. I have stood at these sites; I have walked the Luscombe airstrip. I have reflected and paid my respects to the brave Australians. I must say it was a very haunting, emotional and overwhelming experience. I want to thank the tour guide who was with me, an ex-6RAR man, Breaker Cusack. Breaker really brought the whole thing to reality as we walked through the rubber plantations and the silence. With each step he talked about what happened here and what happened there before you finally get to the cross. You pay your respects to soldiers from both sides who fought in that battle. One of the things I noticed in Vietnam was the reconciliation that has happened since that time and the warmth that Australians receive there. It was a very haunting experience to walk through those different battlefields and places of significance for Australian veterans.

My electorate of McEwen has a long and rich history of supporting our armed forces and the township of Seymour, in particular, has a proud military tradition. Since the Boer War the area has housed Army training camps. After Federation this troop camp became part of the 7th Australian Light Horse, camped at site 17, which we now know and recognise as the Australian Light Horse Memorial Park, a place of great significance to Australia and a place I think many Australians should visit to see the fields where the Anzac traditions were born and what they went through.

During World War I a permanent camp was set up and in the 1920s the Seymour shire became the chief military area in the state. Eventually this led to the establishment of Puckapunyal Army Camp in World War II. During World War II my grandfather, George Mitchell, passed through there on his way to places like Tobruk, Alamein and Borneo, where he and many others fought for our freedom. To me, it makes sense that Seymour is proudly honouring all those who served in Vietnam with the construction of the Vietnam veterans commemorative walk. It will be an area for reflection and commemoration for the Vietnam veterans and their families. It will have over 300 metres of stainless steel walls with the name of every Australian personnel who served in Vietnam. The Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia say:

The Commemorative Walk is not to memorialise those who served in Vietnam and/or those who paid the ultimate price, but to commemorate the service of all who played their part in what turned out to be a tumultuous part of Australia's history.

Some of the stories of Vietnam are represented in a replica of Luscombe Bowl, which was once the entertainment venue set up by soldiers during the war, at the end of Luscombe Airfield at Nui Dat. The replica centre in Seymour is now an interpretive centre. The next stage of the walk will have imitation rubber trees, rice paddies and military artefacts. Through this government we have secured a Centurian tank and we are working very hard to obtain a M113APC, some M2A2 Howitzers and our ultimate goal is to get a Huey helicopter. At the opening of stage 1 of the commemorative walk, veterans came from all around our nation to this place of significance, because it was born by them for them. It was something to behold. They were the ones who put the idea together of the commemorative walk and they are the ones who turned up in droves to see it. One of the most interesting things was to see people who had not seen each other for many, many years getting together, having a celebration and enjoying what had been done by Labor governments, both state and federal, getting together and putting the money in to get this fantastic venture done. It will become a tourist attraction for many of the veterans who are entering the grey nomad phase so they can see the importance of what they have done for our country and to see all their names on a wall.

Our Australian commitment consisted predominantly of Army personnel but there was also a significant number of Air Force, Navy and some civilian personnel who were involved throughout the Vietnam conflict. As I said earlier, the later parts of the war were the cause of social and political dissent in Australia—since the conscription referendums of the First World War. It was a part of our history and only time has been able to heal the emotional wounds of so many.

I first recall my interest being sparked in the Vietnam conflict, and the resulting issues that veterans faced, when my good friend, Craig Ingram—the former member for Gippsland in the Victorian parliament—loaned me a copy of a book titled Well Done, Those Men by Barry Heard. I read that book straight through from start to finish and could not put it down. It was a fascinating read because it was about Barry's very personal account. It explains how, as a conscript, he was one of the many young men sent off to Vietnam, completely unprepared for the emotional and psychological impact of what they would do and what they would have done to them there. As a result, he spent the next 30 years having 'a slow motion breakdown'. His story of his long journey home from Vietnam is an inspiring story of a life reclaimed and it gives strength to that generation of Australian men who had been through very similar experiences.

Since that awakening experience, I have continued to work and support the brave men and women who were prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our country. There are many Vietnam veterans in my community and I can say that they are a dogged lot, especially when it comes to getting funds up and running for this Vietnam veterans commemorative walk. I guess that is what makes them so special. Recently, I was very honoured to present some 'Saluting their service' certificates to two of our finest—locals, Tony Gill and Bill Scott, residents of McEwen and people whom I am very proud to have made their acquaintance. In doing these ceremonies, we invited one of the primary schools who had just finished doing a term's work on military history. It was an absolute sensation to have those guys there getting their certificates, being recognised for what they have done, and to have this young generation of kids there with so much interest, passion and support for everything that they had been through in their schoolwork.

As my last note, I would like to say a simple thank you. Time cannot change the past, but what we do know can change the future and make us sure that this episode in Australian history is recognised and given the reverence and attention that it so richly deserves.

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