Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence, I rise to speak on Australia's greatest maritime tragedy, an event that is still not widely recognised in our nation. But, following the commemoration of its 70th anniversary at the Australian War Memorial in July this year, and with the dedication of a special memorial sculpture by the sculptor James Parrett located close to the 'Weary' Dunlop statue, we now have at last a significant focus point to commemorate and recognise the tragic loss that took place 70 years ago.

My connection with the sinking of the Montevideo Maru goes to the fact that my grandfather was on board that vessel. I share with many families a great sense of relief that we are now able to have a place here in the national capital where the sacrifice of those who perished on board can be both recognised and reflected upon.

It is probably worth noting that the parliament has previously recorded its condolences and acknowledgement of this event. That was 2010, if my memory serves me correctly. I want to pay tribute to my colleague Alan Griffiths, the then Minister for Veterans' Affairs, for his participation in ensuring that we started to acknowledge this event. However, it is the case that for an event of this scale, where more people lost their lives than in the Vietnam War, it is due recognition. I very much hope that greater attention will be given to the anniversaries in years to come.

It is worth while reflecting on why we know so little of this event, given the magnitude of the disaster. Let us first reprise what actually happened to the Montevideo Maru. It was a Japanese merchant vessel commissioned by the Japanese defence forces to evacuate the remaining members of the Lark Force who were defending the island of New Britain from the Japanese invasion that took place in January 1942. As well there were civilian internees, including my grandfather, who was a cocoa planter from the island. Former opposition leader Kim Beazley's uncle was on the vessel, I believe. He was a missionary and a number of missionaries were evacuated along with other civilians. The number of people on board the vessel is significant. There were some 1,535 who perished, about 1,000 of those being members of the Lark Force, and the others were civilians.

As the Montevideo Maru was steaming towards the Philippines, the island of Luzon, an American submarine which had been trailing it for some time, given that it had no markings and believing it to be a part of the Japanese war effort, made the decision to aim four torpedoes at it. Those four torpedoes were launched and within a relatively short period of time, from what we know, the ship sank and all those who were internees or prisoners of war perished. A small number of Japanese seamen did escape from the vessel, but every Australian on board died.

It is worth while remembering that the Japanese had launched their attack on Pearl Harbor only months before, and so the war in the Pacific was well underway. Once the Japanese had determined to invade the island of New Britain, as they were pushing south towards Australia, there was a really small force of Australians, the Lark Force, who were there to deal with the Japanese advance. There were about 1,500 with very few aircraft to counter the superior forces of the Japanese and the defence of Rabaul itself was considered to be futile. The commander of the time declared every man for himself as Rabaul fell.

I am the patron of the Montevideo Maru and Rabaul Society, succeeding my colleague Kim Beazley in that role. I was really pleased to be at a commemoration dinner that took place earlier this year, before we went to the War Memorial. Lieutenant General David Morrison spoke at the event, where he too reflected on the lack of preparedness of Australian troops. He was candid about this lack of the preparedness, saying it was 'a stuff-up'. Indeed it was; it was a monumental stuff up, yet again testimony to the futility of war when appropriate planning and considerations are not given to those young men—and now young women—who make those ultimate sacrifices. Once the decision was made to evacuate Rabaul, people were loaded on to the Montevideo Maru and it was destined for Hainan, as it turned out, but it was sunk en route by the American submarine USS Sturgeon.

How is it that I am standing in the Australian parliament in 2012 and, I would hazard a guess, still very few Australians, certainly young Australians, know about this event and about its magnitude? I think part of the answer is that at the time it was in the midst of an extremely difficult period of conflict and war, communications were scratchy at the best of times and, regrettably, families had very little idea about who was on the boat and who in fact had perished.

It is the case that both the Menzies government and the Chifley government at the time, from the brief historical analysis that has been done, seemed to have underplayed the significance of the incident. There were calls for inquiries; they went unheeded. As it were, it was only through the efforts over time of a small number of families who had succeeded those who had lost their lives that we ended up with a memorial in the Australian parliament and the parliament not only passing the resolution but also this condolence motion, which was moved by the Leader of the Opposition and seconded by the Prime Minister.

I certainly want to put on record my profound appreciation for the enduring efforts of those who have worked both to enable us to have a better recognition and understanding of this event and its magnitude and also who have championed the erection of a commemoration and for that commemoration, which was done by the Governor-General on the 70th anniversary on Sunday, 1 July, to take place. Many of those people are now elderly, and I think it was a very, very moving day but a very good day in that we were able to provide the opportunity—as we had through some support that the government and other sponsors had given—for people who had fought with great forbearance for so long to have this point of reflection and respect for their families.

To the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society; to the past president Keith Jackson; to Don Hook; to current president Phil Ainsworth, who is now handing over those reins to Andrea Williams, whose efforts were untiring; to the vice president of the society, again a former colleague, Kerry Sibraa, a senator in this parliament some years ago—and it is through his company that he is associated with Jackson Wells and many others: I want to put on the record my appreciation for their support.

We see in our national character, as we reflect on these difficult, turbulent and tragic events, something that enables us to understand ourselves a little better and perhaps reflect on what previous generations did for us. We have the spirit of Gallipoli, and that now infuses us as a nation and makes us capable of reflection across a number of dimensions. We saw stoic endurance during the war in places like Kokoda. In the aftermath of Vietnam we are seeing what those consequences can be on the mental capacities of people who go through it.

These things are embedded in our national psyche in many different ways, but it is fitting, 70 years on, that we remember and honour those souls who were on the Montevideo Maru, who lost their lives a long, long way from home and whose memory and whose sacrifice the nation can now acknowledge and cherish.

John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I feel very humbled to follow the member for Kingsford Smith on this very sombre indulgence, but I feel obliged to make a contribution as well. It is a statement in honour of the unveiling of the memorial commemorating the sinking of the Montevideo Maru. This was a very significant incident in Australia's very sad World War II history. There have been many thousands of Australian families impacted by this and similar events.

My family was no exception, although as I will reveal, the circumstances were slightly different from those of the member for Kingsford Smith. However, this is a very personal contribution. My story in regard to this matter rests with the six Forrest brothers, who enlisted in the armed forces in 1940 out of Mildura. The first was Private Sapper Hughie Forrest, who served from 1940 to 1945 in the Middle East and Java with the 6th Division. He was captured as a POW by the Japanese in 1942.

The second Forrest brother was Private Charlie Forrest, who served with the 7th Battalion A-Company. There was Private Eric Forrest, who served with the 31st Australian Work Company. There was Private Jack Forrest, who served with the 6th Division from 1941 to 1944 in the Middle East and Java, and was captured by the Japanese on 7 March 1942. There was Private Herb Forrest, who served with the 6th Division from 1940 to 1944; he saw active service in the Middle East, Greece and Crete, and found himself in Java, before being captured by the Japanese in 1942. Then there was Corporal Ernest Forrest, who served with the 9th Division from 1940 to 1945 in the Middle East. He found himself in Tobruk and El Alamein, and latterly the islands. This was Ern Forrest, my late father.

Four of these brothers returned; two did not. Those who did return were maimed and harmed. I remember Uncle Hughie, who was captured by the Japanese and interned in Changi. He lived out the remainder of his years as a quiet and very taciturn man as a result. They never talked about their war service. I recall my own father saying, 'I hope you will be spared from it, son.' But the real story here is that Uncle Herb and Uncle Jack were lost in an incident similar to the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.

It is interesting to note Australia's war history in this period. In late 1940, a year after the start of World War II, the Australians had almost no defences in Rabaul, which was then the headquarters of the Australian administration of the territory of Papua New Guinea. However, by 1942 there were some 1,200 troops deployed in Rabaul and 20,000 spread throughout the wider area. On 20 January 1942, the Japanese attacked Rabaul, and it fell. The Japanese captured more than 1,000 Allied servicemen, three of the Forrest brothers included.

On 22 June 1942, 1,053 men—845 who were Australian prisoners of war, and a further 208 civilian internees—were loaded onto the Montevideo Maru, as the member for Kingsford Smith has told us. It was a Japanese ship headed to Japan. The submarine USS Sturgeon mistook her for a troop- and armament-carrying vessel; they torpedoed it, with the tragic loss of 1,053 Australians.

On 1 July 2012, I was pleased to see the unveiling of a sculpture at the Australian War Memorial to mark the 70th anniversary of this horrendous event, to honour the men for their service and their sacrifice. This is a very fitting thing to do and has my support, given the size of this tragedy. But there were many more POW ships that suffered a fate similar to that of the Montevideo Maru. In March 1944, 7,000 British and Australian POWs were assembled in Thailand. Nine hundred were chosen and eventually moved to Singapore for transportation to Japan. Two of the six Forrest brothers, Uncle Herb and Uncle Jack, were allegedly among this group. That was what my father's family were advised, but there has never been real certainty about this.

On the morning of 4 September 1944, when the POWs reached the docks, they were confronted by two freighters: the Rakuyo Maru was to primarily carry the Australians, and the larger, American built, Kachidoki Maru was allocated to transport the British. The ships also carried a cargo of rubber. The senior Allied POW officers protested loudly that the ships carried no Red Cross markings to distinguish them from carrying POWs. The officers knew that to sail under these conditions would be suicide. Remember, this is after the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.

This, sadly, proved to be true. The ships sailed north and were met by other vessels from Manila. As the ships proceeded north to Japan they passed through an area known to American submariners as Convoy College. This consisted of five US submarines. At 5.22 am on 12 September 1944 the USS Sealion opened fire on the Rakuyo Maru with three deadly torpedoes and another tragedy ensued.

Mr Don Wall has recorded what he could of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru in his book. I have a copy of it. It is entitled Heroes of the Sea. It records the tragedy of the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru and is a series of testimony from survivors. He describes how the Japanese raced to the lifeboats but refused access to the POWs, beating them away with sticks. The prisoners were left to fend for themselves as another series of explosions lit up the night sky as torpedoes slammed into the accompanying tanker Nankai Maru. By 5.30 pm those POWs fit enough to leave the boat were all in the water, coated in oil from the tanker, and the Rakuyo Maru languished for some time before plunging to the ocean floor. Two Japanese frigates and a merchant ship steamed towards the stranded men but refused to rescue any Allied survivors, collecting only Japanese soldiers. It is reported that groups of POWs were fired upon by machine guns.

By 14 September, after survivors had spent several days in the water, the US submarines retraced their course and rescued 92 Australians and 60 British prisoners, leaving a death toll of 1,403 lost at sea.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives

Sitting suspended from 12:12 to 12:25

The death toll of 1,403 lost at sea from both the Rakuyo Maru and the Kachidoki Maru is up there with the sinking of the Montevideo Maru. Sadly my uncles, Private Herbert Forrest and Private Jack Forrest, were not among the survivors and were presumed dead. This is a tragic story and it highlights the absolute absurdity of war when you can be destroyed by the friendly fire of your allies. The outcome badly affected my father. He lived the remainder of his life with a very jaundiced view of Americans. His attitude to Americans was, frankly, nearly as bad as his view of the Japanese. He also claimed that it shortened the life of my grandmother, who I never knew.

In this period of insanity, owing to the very poor state of military intelligence, there were more than a dozen sinkings of Japanese POW and hospital ships in similar circumstances as the Montevideo Maruand the Rakuyo Maru. The member for Kingsford Smith made mention of earlier resolutions in the chamber which prompted me back in 2010 to ask the Minister for Defence Personnel a question on notice. My question was basically directed towards the veracity of the list Australian families relied on to indicate their loved ones were on any of these boats. They had to rely on the names being provided by the Japanese. The minister kindly responded to me very positively, and he said in reference to the Montevideo Maru:

There have been challenges to the accuracy of this roll with suggestions that some people shown on the roll were killed in Rabaul and did not embark. These challenges are based on survivors of captivity in Rabaul who were interviewed after the war.

The minister goes on to say:

The exact number may never be known. Numbers of prisoners died on Japanese ships of disease, malnutrition and bad treatment on ships that were not sunk.

This was the issue that tormented my own family—they just did not know what had happened to Uncle Herb and Uncle Jack. Were they murdered in the jungle or were they, as directed by the Japanese, actually on the Rakuyo Maru? In response to my question the minister went on:

… after the loss of the Montevideo Marufollowed the Rokyu (or Rakuyo) Maru. No Japanese roll has ever been found, so it is not known exactly who was on board.

I am making these remarks because I am mindful that there are many thousands of families, like the family of the member for Kingsford-Smith and my own family, who have lived for nearly seven decades with the uncertainty of what happened to their loved ones. There were 13 children in my father's family. Today, only one remains—Uncle Eric, who is 88 years of age and living in Mildura in failing health. I say to Uncle Eric: this debate in this chamber today is for you. We hope it assuages some of the pain endured by your family over the years. In a symbolic way that is extended to many other thousands of families.

Cynthia Schmidt lives on the Gold Coast—she is a constituent of the member for Moncrieff.

She lost her father on the Montevideo Maru. We joined forces by accident, and she has been of enormous help to me in my own search for closure and certainty in regards to this matter.

Whilst I applaud this recognition of the tragic sinking of the Montevideo Maru, I believe the memorial should include recognition of all the sinkings that occurred so that future generations will be aware of the absolute insanity of war and appreciate the pain and suffering it leaves behind, and so that they might be spurred on to do all they can, in their own individual efforts, to avoid events of this scale ever being repeated.

Whilst we will never know the final answer, we want to assure all those thousands of families that we share in their pain and we want to do what we can to assist them with closure. Lest we forget.

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to follow up on a few of the comments that the honourable member for Mallee made. I saw that that was a difficult contribution for him to make; I could feel it. You said that a memorial should recognise all the sinkings. I agree with you; I think that would be most appropriate too. You talked about closure and certainty for families and loved ones. That is something that is difficult to attain but something that we all tried to attain for them. I just wanted to acknowledge your words, Member for Mallee; you are a compassionate man and it was really nice to sit here and listen to you.

I rise to speak at the request of one of my constituents of Page, Mr Denis Green, on this motion commemorating the sinking of the Montevideo Maruin 1942. Mr Green recently attended the dedication of the Rabaul and Montevideo Marumemorialat the Australian War Memorial here in Canberra, on 1 July 2012, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary commemorative luncheon and unveiling. During a speech at the dedication by our colleague the honourable member for Kingsford Smith—who also made a very moving and personal contribution here today—he suggested that those attending contact their local members of parliament to ask them to consider rising on indulgence to note commemorations of the sinking of the vessel. So I am proud and honoured as the member for Page to be able to do that today and I thank the member for Kingsford Smith for suggesting this to Mr Green and the others assembled.

Whilst being transported as a military prisoner, Mr Green's father, Clive Green, perished on board the Montevideo Maruwhen it was torpedoed by an American submarine in the South China Sea on 1 July 1942. During the Second World War, Clive was a superintendent at Keravat agricultural station in Papua New Guinea. It was a government based experimental station through which crops such as coffee were introduced to the area. In January 1942, Japanese forces landed at the nearby Port of Rabaul and, despite the concerted efforts of the civilian expatriate population and a small contingent of Australian soldiers to repel the invasion, they had no option but to retreat into the dense jungle and fend for themselves. Despite being able to evade capture for a few weeks using the Keravat crops and stores to camouflage and sustain the resistance, Clive was captured and interned as a civilian prisoner of war. Avoiding execution after an informant recanted his allegation against Clive and a bank employee concerning the hiding of gold bullion, Clive boarded the Montevideo Maruwith other civilian and military prisoners of war, where they were consigned to locked cargo holds by their captors. The Montevideo Maruthen set sail for the Chinese island of Hainan, then occupied by the Japanese.

On 1 July 1942, approximately 100 kilometres west of Cape Luzon in the Philippines, the United States submarine USS Sturgeon torpedoed the unmarked Japanese freighter at 2.29 am, the vessel sinking stern first some 11 minutes later. The submarine's commander, Lieutenant Commander William Wright, was subsequently found to have been unaware of the human cargo. This was the biggest single loss of life in Australia's wartime history, with up to 845 soldiers and over 200 civilians, including Clive Green, losing their lives.

Clive's great-granddaughter and Denis's granddaughter Caitlin Nash delivered a touching tribute to her great-grandfather to win the Northern New South Wales region's Legacy junior public speaking competition held in Lismore on 5 August 2010. Caitlin is a year 10 student at Catherine McAuley Catholic College, Grafton, and a good deal of the information I have used in this speech today has come from Caitlin's tribute. Her tribute provided a truly personal reflection on such a terrible tragedy. I am sure that Caitlin's grandfather Denis is extremely proud of her in expressing her respect and love for her great-grandfather and his father.

Another local connection is through another constituent, Mr Ian Geyer of Woodenbong. Ian's uncle, Lance Corporal Kevin Geyer of No. 1 Independent Company, was taken prisoner following the Japanese invasion before embarking on the ill-fated vessel on 22 June 1942.

In marking the anniversary of the sinking, the dedication service for the unveiling of the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru memorial took place at the Australian War Memorial on 1 July 2012. The dedication was extensively covered and celebrated by the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society's newsletter No. 40, which provided a great run-down of the day, accompanied by many photos of the event. As we know, the honourable member for Kingsford Smith had a personal interest in the unveiling of the memorial, as his grandfather lost his life in the tragedy.

However, the impact of the sinking on past and current parliamentarians on all sides of Australian politics does not end there. An uncle of our current ambassador to the United States of America and former Labor opposition leader, the Hon. Kim Beazley AC, was a Methodist missionary who perished on board the stricken vessel. The brother of Sir Earle Page, who served as caretaker Prime Minister upon the death in office of Prime Minister Lyons in 1939 and from whom my electorate takes its name, was Harold Page. Harold, as Deputy Administrator in New Guinea, commenced the compulsory evacuation of women and children from Rabaul in late 1941 while it was under threat of invasion by Japanese forces. Harold was captured in Rabaul in June 1942 by Japanese forces, before boarding the Montevideo Maru as a civilian prisoner of war. Harold is of course the great-uncle of the Hon. Don Page, the current state member for Ballina—which is within my federal seat of Page—and Minister for Local Government and Minister for the North Coast in the New South Wales Parliament.

Returning to Denis Green—his father's eldest brother, the Hon. Roland F. Green, represented the then Country Party in federal parliament between 1922 and 1937 for Richmond, a neighbouring seat to my seat of Page. So there are a lot of connections—family connections, personal connections, political connections and parliamentary connections. It is something which in some way, directly or indirectly, impacts on all Australians.

I would like to commend to members of the House, including myself, to make a visit to the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru installation at the Australian War Memorial, which I have yet to do, to pay respects to the civilians and soldiers who lost their lives due to this terrible tragedy.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

1 July 2012 marked the 70th anniversary of Australia's greatest loss of life at sea, in war or peace. On that date in 1942, at 2.29 am, the Montevideo Maru, an unmarked Japanese transport freighter, was torpedoed by an American submarine in the South China Sea, whilst transporting more than 1,000 Australian soldiers and civilian prisoners of war. The ill-fated ship sank in just 11 minutes. There were no Australian survivors.

This was our worst maritime disaster—the biggest single loss of life in Australia's wartime history, and still today it remains the biggest. Much uncertainty and conspiracy have surrounded both the existence of the Montevideo Maru and the 1 July sinking. Rumours and theories have circulated about this tragic event since the end of the Second World War. Some even believe the Japanese had fabricated the sinking in an attempt to avoid war crimes. Earlier this year, however, the Japanese handed thousands of POW documents to the Australian government and the Montevideo Maru's manifest, which contained the names of all of the Australians on board, was found to be amongst them. The translation of the manifest was released in June 2012 confirming that a total of 1,054 Australians were on board, of whom 845 were members of the Australian Army unit, Lark Force.

On Sunday, 1 July this year, on the 70th anniversary, a memorial dedicated to those lost on the Montevideo Maru was unveiled at the Australian War Memorial. This superb memorial was done for, and on behalf of, the Australian War Memorial in partnership with the Rabaul and Montevideo MaruSociety. Created by renowned Melbourne sculptor James Parrett, the memorial commemorates those Australians who died in the defence of Rabaul and those who later died as prisoners in the sinking of the Montevideo Maru. The sculpture is fabricated in stainless steel and stands about 3.5 metres high. It is a fascinating design, and it may be visited in the award-winning Eastern Precinct of the Australian War Memorial.

In true veteran mateship, more than 1,000 people, many of whom were in their late 80s and 90s, braved single-digit temperatures to see their mates honoured. In the words of Lark Force Association President Norm Furness, whose members were on board the Montevideo Maru:'Today's stately ceremony is their funeral. This memorial is their headstone.' Lest we forget.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The House is remembering the 70th anniversary of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru, the Japanese vessel that, 70 years ago on 1 July, was carrying over 1,000 Australian prisoners of war and civilians and was sunk off the Philippines by an American submarine, the USS Sturgeon. It was, and remains, the worst maritime disaster in Australia's history. It had sailed from Rabaul, on 22 June 1942. It carried 845 Australian prisoners of war and 208 interned Australian civilians, all headed for internment on Hainan Island in China—as well, of course, as its Japanese crew.

One of the Australian civilians who died in that tragedy was Henry Fulton, who is the uncle of one of my constituents, Elizabeth Fulton-Thurston, who has worked very hard with the committee to ensure that the sinking of the Montevideo Maru was appropriately remembered, and they have been able to secure, as we now know, and as we witnessed only a few weeks ago, a beautiful sculpture erected at the Australian War Memorial, which was unveiled on 2 July.

Every one of the men who died in the sinking of this ship had their own personal story, but there is a great family story associated with Henry Fulton and his death on that ship.

Henry was one of four brothers who had been brought up in very tough circumstances. His father died when they were all very young and they were brought up by their mother in the eastern suburbs in Sydney, in Waverley in my electorate. All of them except Henry were very keen and successful sportsmen with a great love of cricket. Henry had polio as a child and he was the only one of the four brothers who did not serve in the Australian defence forces in the Second World War.

Ted Fulton, the oldest of the four, had one of the most remarkable and colourful histories of any Australian serviceman. He went off with the 6th Division to Palestine, having joined the Army as soon as war was declared. He served with the 6th Division in the triumphant campaign against the Italians in North Africa and the victories in Bardia and Tobruk. Then he served with the Australian and British forces in what turned out to be the military debacle in Greece and Crete, and was very fortunate ultimately to escape from Crete back to his unit in Palestine. Ted had been an early pioneer in New Guinea, which of course was administered by Australia as a League of Nations mandate after the First World War. He first went up there in the early 1920s to work for Carpenters, the trading company. He had a variety of jobs with Carpenters and then he worked for the Australian administration, and subsequently had great success as a gold prospector and gold miner on the Sepik River. When he joined up, he was a mature man—he was 35 years of age, born in 1904. Ted Fulton left a substantial business behind in New Guinea.

His brother Henry, who suffered from polio, was seven years younger than Ted, and Ted always kept an eye out for him. Ted brought him up to Rabaul in 1937 for a job with Burns Philp. He took him under his wing. His other brother Jack served with the Australian Army and was interned in Changi, and worked on the Burma Railway—and worked near to death, as with all the other prisoners. Remarkably, he survived and wrote a diary of his time in Changi, which is now in the Australian War Memorial. The fourth brother, Frank Fulton, served in the Air Force.

So there were four brothers, three of whom served in very dangerous circumstances for the Australian armed forces. Henry did not but he was the one who did not come home. He was the civilian by reason of his polio and he was the one who was taken with the other prisoners of war on the Montevideo Maru and was lost at sea. Ted Fulton subsequently returned to New Guinea and established a plantation there. He has written a remarkable book, which I commend to honourable members, called No Turning Back. His daughter Elizabeth edited that book and contributed to it.

Rabaul had not been fortified in the years before the Second World War, not least because it was a condition of Australia's administering the former German colony that it remain unmilitarised. A force of about 1,400 men was dispatched to Rabaul in April 1941, called Lark Force, but it was utterly inadequate to repel any likely Japanese attack. It was part of the 22nd Battalion and was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Scanlan. It remains puzzling why a clearly inadequate force was left in Rabaul as some kind of sacrifice.

There was considerable bitterness at the time and subsequently about the decisions made in Canberra that resulted not only in the Lark Force remaining in Rabaul when it was clearly inadequate to repel any Japanese attack but also in refusing to consent to male civilians such as Henry Fulton being evacuated.

Thousands of Australians lost their lives, some in the fighting and a number were executed by the Japanese—160 of them in one single massacre at the Tol and Waitavalo plantations. Those who had not been killed or died of other causes were interned and then lost at sea on the Montevideo Maru. Presumably, the decision was taken to leave the troops there as some kind of defiant sacrifice but it does seem, and seemed at the time, to be a particularly pointless decision.

The Montevideo Maru took just 11 minutes to sink after it had been torpedoed. The Australian soldiers sang Auld lang syne as the ship went down. There was no effort made to recover the survivors. The Japanese navy took the view that they could not remain in that vicinity with an enemy submarine nearby. At the time, the sinking was not reported in Australia, as there was very heavy censorship, and it was not until 1945 that Henry Fulton's family learnt what had happened to him.

He had written two letters, of which I propose to read a portion, to his family not long before the prisoners were taken off in the Montevideo Maru. On 9 January 1942, he wrote to his sister Mary—and this was before the Japanese had landed, which occurred on 23 January—and he said:

I suppose you have heard over the wireless about our visits from the Jap bombers. So far they have not done much damage with the exception of the natives killed at the native hospital last Sunday. There have not been any European casualties. I have sent you the Rabaul Times of today by this airmail and hope that it reaches you safely. You will be able to read a full report of the doings in it and then you might pass it on to Flip—

that is his brother Frank—

There is no cause to be worried about this business. No doubt they will be pretty frequent from now on but we all have our slit trenches and are pretty well protected and so far they have not attacked the town area, so please Diddy do not worry unnecessarily about it.

That was putting a very brave face on a pretty difficult situation.

Later, on 11 February 1942, he wrote to his brother Frank a letter that was presumably written under Japanese instruction and was delivered as part of a mail drop by the Japanese over Port Moresby. Hank Nelson described it as 'a strange act of chivalry in a very brutal war'. This was his final letter and he said:

Dear Frank,

Just a line to let you know that I am safe and well and am still in Rabaul and I hope that you and Mary have not been worrying about me. I am in good health and eating well and sleep well at night. I hope that this will find you in good health and that Chris and the children are all free from sickness. Assure Mary that I am quite all right andoften think of you all, also Jack and Ted. Love to all old scout and hope it will not be long before I am seeing you all again. Cheers for the time Flip, your fond brother, Henry.

The family marked Henry's all-too-short life with a plaque that rests on his parents' grave at Waverley Cemetery and that overlooks Bronte Beach, where the Fulton boys spent much of their time when they were young lads growing up in the eastern suburbs. It is a shocking tragedy and it is one that, until very recently, too little attention was paid to, no doubt because it was the result of friendly fire and there was a degree of embarrassment that this, the worst maritime disaster in our history, or the largest single loss of Australian lives in one incident in the Second World War, was the consequence of an American torpedo.

But those Australians who died on the Montevideo Maru died serving their country as bravely as any soldier, sailor, airman or serviceman or woman who lost his or her life in that war. It is good, albeit somewhat late, that the Montevideo Maru is remembered. I am very pleased to be able to remember and recall the remarkable lives of four young men—the Fulton boys: Ted, Frank, Henry and Jack—who in different theatres served their country so selflessly in the Second World War. They were a remarkable generation who saw service as their duty and sought no thanks, no honorifics, no rewards for it. They simply recognised that it was something that they had to do. To them service was second nature. We will not see their like again. Lest we forget.

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to join with others to commemorate the tragedy of the MontevideoMaru and to remember those many brave Australians who gave their lives in the service of their nation in circumstances which even today are shrouded in some mystery. A number of other speakers have raised individual cases of tragedy and the very personal stories of families who lost loved ones, families who were devastated by those events. I do not intend to go to the question of individual tragedies. Instead I would like to put a couple of points on the record as I think they highlight the scale of the tragedy. I would also like to remember the activities of some who in recent years have worked hard to ensure that the nation and government understand what took place by ensuring those tragic events are commemorated not only for now but into the future.

As we know and as other speakers have said, this was Australia's greatest single maritime tragedy, with the loss of some 1,053 Australian lives. If you go broader and look at what occurred at Rabaul, there were even more losses. I would like to quote from the speech of Mr Phil Ainsworth given at the luncheon on 30 June as part of the commemoration and dedication of the new memorial:

Firstly, I would like to place these tragic 1942 events in perspective. The 1,400 deaths represent a casualty rate of 82 per cent of the 1,700 Australian men present at the time of the invasion. The number captured is about six per cent of all Australian POWs taken in all theatres of the war, and their deaths comprise about 15 per cent of all Australian POWs who died during capture. As a maritime disaster, the sinking of the Montevideo Maru with over 1,000 Australians aboard compares in number with HMAS Sydney when 645 were lost and the hospital ship Centaur with 258.

Phil puts in statistical terms the enormity of this tragedy on the public record. As others have raised individual cases, these have personalised the very tragic nature of these events.

As some would remember, I was Minister for Veterans' Affairs last term and had the privilege to meet and talk with some of the family members of those who lost loved ones on the Montevideo Maru at a reception held here in Parliament House. I also had the privilege of advising them of the establishment of a memorial at the Australian War Memorial, kicking that off with a donation from the Australian government of $100,000 on behalf of the nation. I would like particularly to acknowledge Keith Jackson, who is known to some members. He is a colourful man. My first contact with him was when I was unfortunately quoted in the Australian on the issue of the Montevideo Maru, not quite out of context but without exhibiting the level of respect and understanding that Keith felt I should show. This led to Keith sending me one or two rather barbed emails and some rather unflattering information on his website. I have to admit I was not happy with this and sought to engage him to correct the record and ensure that we could deal with the issues in a more sensible fashion. This we did and we got over that unhappiness. I am now happy to call him a friend and I hope he is happy to call me one.

What I saw in Keith's actions and the actions of those surrounding him were dedication and determination to pursue a proper commemoration of this great tragedy. They have done that through a number of things, and their record over the last three or four years—as long as they have been working on this—is phenomenal. Putting together the funding and the establishment of the memorial at the AWM so quickly is phenomenal and a tribute to all of them. I would also like to acknowledge Steve Gower, the former director, for the advice that he gave me at the time about how this could best be pursued. To all those in the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society engaged in establishing the memorial and searching for the records to ensure that we understand better what occurred and that the nation understands the terrible tragedy that took place, I say you have performed a great service for your nation. To those who died, to those who served and to those who have suffered since, we as a nation owe you a great debt.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 13:02