Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

My grandfather, James Albert Lees, enlisted in the York and Lancaster Regiment from his home town of Rotherham, in Yorkshire, in the early days of World War I. He was signed up in what they called the Pals recruitment, or a Kitchener recruitment process. He belonged to his local sporting club, and as a young athlete he and his friends, his pals, signed up for the York and Lancaster Regiment. They served their war beginning at the Somme, and my grandfather, James Albert Lees, served most of his war in either hospitals or in prisons. But he survived his war, and for that we give thanks to the Lord. He had a good war; he got through it.

The Anzac legend was born on the shores of modern day Turkey, on 25 April 1915, when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps invaded the Gallipoli peninsula. This daring but ultimately unsuccessful campaign ended after eight months with over 25,000 Australian casualties and over 8,000 deaths. War creates loss, uncertainty and unending devastation for families, communities and countries.

The troops involved in the Gallipoli campaign came from the length and breadth of Australia and New Zealand. Each state and New Zealand supplied a quota of troops who made their way by sea to their designated rendezvous point. For many that was off the southern port of Albany, off Western Australia. The ships began to assemble from 24 October 1914. When they arrived in King George Sound, Albany, the troops were not allowed ashore, although many did get a trip to land to take part in marches or other organised excursions. For many of the troops who fought and died at Gallipoli, Albany was therefore the last that they ever saw of Australia.

The people of my electorate of Brand hold deep ties to World War 1 and the Gallipoli campaign. Rockingham, which is in the heart of my electorate, holds, I believe, the second-biggest Anzac morning march-past west of Adelaide. Rockingham is home to the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet Base West. It is also home to many of the thousands of young Australian men and women who, tonight, will serve in our forces overseas. Rockingham was also home to some of the brave young men of Western Australia's own 11th Battalion, whose distinguished service began when they received enemy fire as the first ashore, at Gallipoli, providing cover for the Anzac landings. The 11th Battalion had practised on the beach at Rockingham.. The 11th Battalion had called Rockingham their home.

The Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program, administered by the Commonwealth government, was used recently to fund a local project at the Rockingham War Memorial. The grants were to support projects honouring Australia's servicemen and servicewomen as part of the Anzac Centenary national program. This particular project involved the purchase and installation of eight commemorative seats and plaques around the war memorial cenotaph in Flinders Lane, Rockingham. The project was directed through the RSL City of Rockingham Sub-Branch, which is currently headed by the very capable Lyndon Jackson as president and Jennifer Sciortino as secretary. The grant was for around $25,000. The first plaque on the chairs reads:

These commemorative seats are in memory of the sons who were born and/or resided in Rockingham whose courage and sacrifice defended and preserved our freedoms. WW 1 1914-18 Lest We Forget

The names listed on the plaque are as follows: Alford C, who died; Armstrong RJ; Bell RR; Barter GM; Barter RD, who died; Carroll HJ; Colledge REL; De San Miguel C; Evans FW, who died; Fry GW; Hanretty RH, who died; Hanretty TP; Mead WE, who died; Hymus HA; Hymus WJ; Northover CE; Parkin CE; Sloan LT; Smirk WJ; Stokes HJ; and Stokes FH.

Many of these names are familiar to the people of Rockingham. They are names that can be seen today on street names. They name our local reserves. They become part of our local history and lore. They live on in modern descendants and families.

The De San Miguel family name remains prominent in the Rockingham area. Charles De San Miguel joined the Army on 9 March 1916, and was in the 1st Australian Division, 11th Battalion. He was captured at Tagnicourt on 20 March 1917, reported missing on 26 March 1917, and officially recorded as prisoner of war on 26 September 1917. He was registered at Limburg Camp, Germany. On 10 December 1918 he was repatriated from Germany to England, and he returned to Australia per the Lancashire,on 21 March 1919.

Charles was the son of Angel and Mary De San Miguel of Hope Valley, Rockingham. His father was originally sent to New Norcia Mission, north of Perth. However, he left and that is how he met his wife, Mary. Their son was a prisoner of war for most of the war.

The Hymus family was one of the first to settle in East Rockingham. The Hymus family name now adorns streets and, again, has become part of the living culture of Rockingham. Wesley John Hymus—'Jack'—joined the Army on 4 February 1916 and embarked on 31 March 1916. On 3 October 1917 he was wounded in action. He was gassed in France on 15 November 1917 and hospitalised at the 3rd General Hospital. He was hospitalised again on 21 and 31 March 1917, suffering the effects of gas. He suffered from paralyses, on 31 March 1918, and was sent to hospital in Newhaven, England. He suffered a haematoma to his spinal cord from administration of medication. He was returned to Australia, paralysed, on 30 June 1918. His father, Daniel Hymus, ran the Rockingham pub until the 1920s. There is a street in Rockingham connecting the esplanade to Safety Bay Road, which is named after the Hymus family.

Parkin is another name which has been given to Rockingham streets and Rockingham landmarks. Charles Parkin went to war underage and his father wrote a strongly worded letter to the Army asking where his son was. Charles Edward Parkin was the son of Charles Parkin and Annie, nee Burns. Charles Sr was the first chairman of the Rockingham Road Board. Charles embarked on 22 November 1915. Illness plagued him and, after being hospitalised with influenza and bronchitis, he became a military policeman and then a munitions worker. He was discharged on 27 November 1919. 'Parkin' lives on as a local street name.

The Sloan family have a reserve named after them—Sloan Reserve. It is on the corner of Sloan Drive, which is also named after the family. Sloan Cottage, an original soldier's settlement house, is an important heritage feature of Kwinana. The family farmed land near the corner of Day and Mandurah Road, East Rockingham. They farmed here until 1953, until Kwinana began to be developed.

Leonard Thomas Sloan was the son of George and Emma Sloan, nee Smirk, of East Rockingham. The Smirk family are another famous local family. He joined on 4 February 1916, aged 27 years, and embarked on HMAT Suevic on 6 June 1916. He was sent to France on 25 November 1916 and was wounded in action at Ypres on 10 January 1917. On 24 June 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal. He was wounded, again, on 4 October, suffering a gunshot wound to the right side of his chest and was hospitalised in Portsmouth, England. On 15 February 1918 he returned to Australia aboard the Llanstephen Castle, arriving 9 April 1918.

His grandfather was a whaler and his father was a convict, who farmed near Kwinana and taught Sunday school for 20 years. His grandfather, James Sr, was in the Navy and jumped ship from HMS Driver for which a price was placed on his head. His father, James Jr, established the Port Hotel, now called the Rockingham Hotel.

Raymond Harold Hanretty joined the Army on 12 January 1916 and embarked on 6 June 1917. Raymond went to France on 22 November and was wounded on 1 June 1917. Ray rejoined his unit on 14 June 1917 and, on 31 May 1918, was killed in action in France. He was buried originally at Petit Blangy and then re-interned at Villers-Bretonneux.

The Hanretty family had a street named after them in Warnbro. His mother's maiden name was Thorpe. The Thorpe family also had a street named after them in Rockingham and a way named after them in Kwinana. Raymond's mother planted pine trees near where the Kwinana marshalling yards now sit. His father worked at the port of Kwinana.

William Ernest Mead joined the Army on 1 February 1916. He was 29 years and five months at the time of his enlistment. He was a farmer and grazier at 'Lealholm,' East Rockingham. William was the son of Charles and Hannah Mead.

He embarked from Fremantle aboard the HMAT A9 Shropshire, on 31 January 1916, to Suez and from there to Alexandria, then to Marseilles, arriving on 2 June 1916, joining his unit at Etaples on 7 June 1916. On 7 July 1916 he joined the 11th Battalion in France. On 23 July 1916 he was wounded in action and suffered wounds to his arm, concussion and shellshock. William died from his injuries at the 44th Casualty Clearance Station, in France, on 23 July 1916. He was buried at the British Cemetery, plot 1, row F, grave 49. William's father and his two uncles owned much of the land around the Kwinana Strip and Mundijong. The family also owned land near the corner of Gilmore and Mandurah Road up until the 1980s.

I would like to thank Wendy Durant from the Rockingham Museum for her great knowledge of my local area, its families and its history and for her assistance with the research for this speech. I of course encourage the locals of Rockingham to call into our local museum to learn of our local history and how it relates to the events of World War I and how that war helped shape our community and our nation. Lest we forget.

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