Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The book I referred to in this debate previously, First World War Soldiers of the Kurrajong, referred to a family of brothers, the Lavender brothers, whose story is perhaps unique in that so many from one family volunteered. The brothers were Trooper Andrew, Trooper Victor Michael, Private Clemence Joseph, Lance Corporal George, Private Clive and Private Daniel Sydney Lavender. It is not common to find six brothers who all volunteered to serve in the First World War and returned home. If their father, Henry Lavender, had been a bit younger, perhaps he would also have answered the call and, if the war had lasted longer, perhaps the other seven siblings would also have served—a very special family.

The Woodford Academy, I am delighted to say, also received funding under the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. They engaged in a number of projects. The Make Your Mark in History program included a number of items: an audiovisual interpretive exhibit, permanently on display; interactive e-books, which are also on display in the museum, on three iPads, and which I have had the privilege of enjoying; and the national curriculum year 9 history unit, which is a comprehensive research training program conducted in the classroom and on-site. The 1917 honour board will also be refurbished, with the missing names of 12 boys who went to the war added to it. In all, 54 students from Woodford Academy served in the First World War.

I turn to my own heritage with regard to Anzac history. My grandfather on my mother's side, G Courtney, born in Dapto, New South Wales, enlisted on 8 February 1915. The record of Australian military forces, the Australian Imperial Force, records that he was in the 18th Battalion and notes that he was 18. He was actually only 15. He served at Gallipoli and in France. He embarked on HMAT Ceramic on 25 June 1915, a young teenager, not knowing what he was to face over the next four years.

The records note that on 15 April 1917 he was transferred from the 18th Battalion to the 4th Australian Field Ambulance. As my family tell the story, the reason for that was that they found out he was under age. In fact, his family had been searching for him. When the army realised he was under age, they transferred him from the 18th Battalion to the 4th Field Ambulance. I think he actually saw and endured a lot more during that experience.

The 18th Battalion, part of the 5th Brigade, trained in Egypt from mid-June through to mid-August, and on 21 August landed at Anzac Cove. The battalion had not been ashore a day when it was committed to the last operation of the August offensive, the attack on Hill 60, which lasted until 29 August and cost it 50 per cent casualties. As you read my grandfather's record, you see, time after time, 'illness', 'typhoid', 'shrapnel wounds'—the list goes on.

The 18th Battalion was spared from having to mount an attack across the quagmire that the Somme battlefield had become but did have to continue manning the front through the winter. In 1917, the 18th was involved in the follow-up of German forces during their retreat to the Hindenburg line and was involved in some particularly heavy fighting around Warlencourt in late February.

The 4th Field Ambulance served in the 4th Division. After my grandfather's transfer to the division, the history records relate that, in June 1917, they were in the Battle of Messines and, in September 1917, the Battle of Polygon Wood. In March 1918, the division was rushed to the Somme region to stem the German offensive. The list of their actions goes on. Casualties in the 4th Division included: killed in action, 8,360; died of wounds, 2,613; deaths, 872; prisoners, 2,026; wounded, 27,127. That tells the story of the people that my grandfather served with.

The Australian War Memorial's records refer to one of the most hazardous medical jobs, that of the stretcher-bearer. I have a poem I would like to read out, called Stretcher-Bearers:

Stretcher-Bearers! Stretcher-Bearers!

Seeking in the rain

Out among the flying death

For those who lie in pain,

Bringing in the wounded men—

Then out to seek again.

Out amongst the tangled wire

(Where they thickest fell)

Snatching back the threads of life

From out the jaws of Hell;

Out amongst machine-gun sweep

And blasts of shatt'ring shell.

For you no mad, exciting charge,

No swift, exultant fight,

But just an endless plodding on

Through the shuddering night;

Making ('neath a star-shell's gleam)

Where ere a face shines white.

Stretcher-Bearers! Stretcher-Bearers!

To you all praise be due,

Who ne'er shirked the issue yet

When there was work to do;

We who've seen and know your worth

All touch our hats to you.

This was an anonymous tribute to stretcher-bearers written by an Australian soldier in 1918, in the AIF magazine, Aussie.

There are also a number of relatives on my father's side who served. In fact, his father, John Tyrell, served, as well as Henry Thomas Tyrell and Joseph Michael Tyrell.

What is really important about commemorating the Anzac Centenary this year is that we have the opportunity to acknowledge all those who served. Some made the ultimate sacrifice; others returned home. My own grandfather came home and raised 14 children, believe it or not. Many of them have made a significant impact on this nation. As I stand here today, I honour them and I remember their sacrifice, their love, their courage and their passion for freedom.

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