Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is an honour to speak to the Remembrance Day motion moved by my friend, the member for Kingston and shadow minister. It is important that we recognise the sacrifice and commitment by those men and women who bravely fought for this nation, and continue to fight for this nation.

This Friday, we observe an important national day of remembrance for all of those men and women who have been injured or died for their nation in armed conflict. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month holds a special place in the heart of all Australians. As we know, it marks the specific time when the guns on the Western Front fell silent, and hostilities ceased after four devastating years of war in the First War conflict, the Great War. As a nation, we solemnly observe one minute's silence as a mark of respect.

It is because of their sacrifice that we as a nation today enjoy peace and freedom. We know that the first modern world conflict brought about the mobilisation of around 70 million people and left between nine and 13 million people dead, and perhaps as many as one-third of them with no known grave.

It was on the anniversary of the Armistice in 1919 that two minutes silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony at the new Cenotaph in London. The silence was proposed by an Australian journalist, Edward Honey, who was working in Fleet Street. We know that at the time a similar proposal was put to the British cabinet, which endorsed it, and King George V personally requested all people of the British Empire to suspend normal activities for two minutes on the hour of the Armistice. We know that the two minutes silence was popularly adopted, and it became a central feature of commemorations.

Later, post the Second World War, the Australian and British governments changed the name to Remembrance Day. Armistice Day was no longer an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate all war dead. During that conflict, we know that 60,000 Australians made the ultimate sacrifice; 156,000 Australians were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. As a nation, at the time we had a population of fewer than five million people. These figures really do bring home how big a sacrifice was made.

In my electorate this Friday, and in every other electorate around this country, there will be a number of services run by the dedicated men and women of the RSLs and subbranches. In my electorate, these will include the Forest Lake, the Darra Cementco, the Centenary Suburbs and the Goodna RSL subbranches. Today I acknowledge the work and effort of those volunteers in our RSL organisation right throughout the nation. I am really proud to work alongside these great men and women, who dedicate many hours of their time to commemorate and remember that sacrifice for so many Australians. On the weekend, I ran into one of the presidents, Alan Worthington, the president of the Centenary RSL, and I was able to buy another pin. Alan was there, doing what he does week in, week out, giving up his time, away from his family, to support the RSL. They do this to ensure that the men and women get the recognition they deserve.

This is particularly important to me, as a son of a World War II veteran who enlisted in the Navy in 1920. I was able to spend some time with the RAN personnel, men and women, in the Timor Sea, when I spent some time as part of the parliamentary program working with the ADF. Spending time with those men and women continually, once again, reminded me of the great respect I hold for our armed forces personnel.

Today I support this motion to ensure that the sacrifices made by members of our armed forces are never forgotten and never taken for granted.

Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to begin by commending my South Australian neighbour and colleague the member for Kingston for presenting this motion to the House today. Remembrance Day provides all Australians with the opportunity to honour the men and women who sacrificed their safety and their lives for our country. Their defence of our nation and our values is something that must never be forgotten.

This Friday, 11 November 2016, marks the 98th anniversary of the Armistice which ended World War I. The minute's silence we will all observe at the 11th hour of the 11th day of this, the 11th month, is not only a time to remember the great loss of life borne by our nation in World War I. It is also a time to commemorate all those who have gone to war and those who returned with the hidden scars of battle.

In the year 1914, Australia's suburbs and country towns were emptied as 400,000 men voluntarily enlisted to serve. Over 60,000 Australians died, and a further 156,000 returned as casualties of war. One of those men was my great-grandfather, Private Roy Gambrell. One hundred years ago this year, at the age of 18, my great-grandfather joined the 48th Infantry Battalion. The battalion comprised new recruits from South Australia and Western Australia as well as veterans from Gallipoli. Their first action was as Pozieres—action that was some of the worst that Australian troops have ever endured. The battle at Pozieres caused the greatest loss of Australian life in our military history. The 48th Battalion endured what was said to be the heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops and suffered 598 casualties.

In his recent address to mark the 100th anniversary of our sacrifice on the Western Front, our Director of the Australian War Memorial, the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, recalled that more Australians had been lost in eight weeks of fighting in France than in eight months at Gallipoli. Dr Nelson went on to say that, of Pozieres, our first war historian, Charles Bean, simply wrote:

The shelling at Pozieres did not merely probe the character and nerve; it laid them stark naked as no other experience of the AIF ever did. The ruin of the Pozieres Windmill …

which stands as a memorial today—

was captured on August 4th by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war.

Pozieres is more deeply sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.

I am always touched when I read some of the 102,000 names on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial. I also think about the personal triumphs of all the Australian men and women who have served our nation. As we all understand in this House, our armed forces are respected worldwide as professional and humane. Recorded on stained-glass windows above the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial are the 15 values of Australia's armed forces. They are what I believe we should all strive for in honour of those who laid down their lives: resource, candour, devotion, curiosity, independence, comradeship, ancestry, patriotism, chivalry, loyalty, coolness, control, audacity, endurance and decision. I commend the current Director of the War Memorial, Dr Nelson, for placing these values at the heart of his work commemorating those who have served our nation.

In my seat of Boothby, we also remember the sacrifices of our service men and women. Leading up to Remembrance Day, I know that the veterans and the many volunteers of the Brighton, Blackwood, Marion, Mitcham and Colonel Light Gardens RSLs will be working hard to prepare their memorial services. Boothby is also home to one of Australia's few memorials to the involvement of women in war and service, at the Australian Women's Memorial Playing Fields. I consider Boothby to be blessed to have so many organisations that remind us of those who have given everything so that we can live in safety and in peace and that also act as hubs for our community so that we may enjoy that safety and that peace together.

I hope that the ranks of men and women recorded on the honour roll at the Australian War Memorial never grow as they did during World War I. As our Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, has remarked:

The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

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

I rise to add my voice to the member for Kingston's motion to recognise Remembrance Day. At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. The Allied armies had driven the German invaders back, having inflicted heavy defeats upon them in the preceding four months. In November the Germans called for an armistice, a suspension in fighting, so they could seek out a peace settlement to surrender. They accepted Allied terms that amounted to unconditional surrender. This moment allowed the start of armistice between the Allied and German forces, an agreement that, as I said, saw unconditional surrender of the German forces and the end of the war that was supposed to end all wars.

In 1920 this day became both a remembrance and a funeral, as the remains of the unknown soldiers from the Western Front were brought home and buried in their respective nations. After the Second World War, the name for this day was changed from Armistice Day to Remembrance Day, in order to honour all those soldiers who had fallen in these horrific wars. This date has a special significance in the memorial calendar. What started out as a date to mark the end of the war that would supposedly end all wars, it has become a day to honour the generations of men and women that have gone to war, that have exemplified national unity across our nations.

In Australia on the 75th anniversary of Armistice Day, in 1993, Remembrance Day ceremonies became the focus of national attention. The remains of an unknown soldier exhumed from a World War I military cemetery in France was ceremonially entombed in the War Memorial's Hall of Memory. We witnessed that day probably one of the greatest speeches that this country will ever see by Paul Keating. He said:

We do not know this Australian's name and we never will. We do not know his rank or his battalion. We do not know where he was born, nor precisely how and when he died. We do not know where in Australia he had made his home or when he left it for the battlefields of Europe. We do not know his age or his circumstances – whether he was from the city or the bush; what occupation he left to become a soldier; what religion, if he had a religion; if he was married or single. We do not know who loved him or whom he loved. If he had children we do not know who they are. His family is lost to us as he was lost to them. We will never know who this Australian was.

I think those very poignant words of Prime Minister Keating remind us that generations of men and women have gone to war in Australia's name never to return. Those that do return often carry scars that we cannot see—not physical but mental scars. Some people never get over war. Back then we probably did not focus as much on PTSD as we should have and probably did not know or understand the trauma of what war does to someone, to young men and young women that go and see things that we pray we never have to see. I think that all sides of parliament would stand and say that one of the hardest things you can ever have to do is make a decision to send people to die, and I have never seen a government, whether it is our side of the fence or the other side of the fence, do it lightly.

One of the things we do on Remembrance Day is wear a red poppy as a symbol to remind us of the sacrifices made during war. The red poppy has come to be known as an internationally recognised symbol of remembrance. From its association with poppies flowering in the spring of 1915 on the battlefields of Belgium, France and Gallipoli, this vivid red flower has become synonymous with the great loss of life in war. The scope of the poppy and its connections with the memory of those who have died in war has been expanded to help those living too. It was the inspiration and dedication of two women who promoted this same memorial flower as a means by which funds could be raised to support those in need of help, most especially servicemen and civilians suffering from physical and mental hardship as a result of war.

So we should encourage people this Friday to buy a poppy and know the history behind this flower, what it means and how it is supporting our veterans, young and old, their families and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in this nation's name. We should never forget and we should work together to ensure that no more chapters of war are added to this book of pain.

Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to be able to take this opportunity to speak to the importance of Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day, as the previous speaker noted, was originally known as Armistice Day and was introduced following the ceasefire at the end of World War I—the war to end all wars. As we now know, we use Remembrance Day to reflect on all of involvements in all of the various conflicts that have happened to Australia.

Australia has lost over 100,000 lives in battle since the turn of last century but the story is much worse than that. In the First World War, we acknowledge that we lost 62,000 lives. However, what is not often referred to is the fact that we lost another 60,000 lives of those returned soldiers within two years of them returning home, so the real cost, in terms of lives lost, is significantly worse.

Since Federation, our Australian defence forces have served in South Africa with the Boer War, World War I, the Russian Civil War, World War II, the Malayan emergency, the Korean War, Borneo, the Vietnam War—often referred to in Vietnam as the American War—the Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iraq, Timor and also the current war on ISIL.

The 11th of the 11th at 11 o'clock gives us an opportunity to reflect on all of those who have served for our benefit. It also gives us the opportunity to understand that Australia has never entered into a conflict with the ultimate goal of land gain for Australia. We have never entered into a conflict with the end prize being that we were going to take over someone's territory. We have, ultimately, committed ourselves in each and every conflict to remain where we currently are—to create peace and to create a coexistence with the status quo. That is something that we should all be extremely proud of as we reflect on the amount of conflicts that we have been involved in.

It is also an opportunity for us to reflect on what we are doing with our lives as a way of saying thank you to all of those who have served to preserve our quality of life here in Australia. Is our contribution to our lives here worthy of the sacrifices that have taken place on our behalf? All of those 100,000 people that lost their lives in battle were thinking of a better Australia. They were all thinking, 'I'm doing this so that my children, my extended family and my society that I have left behind will prosper in a way that I would be proud of.' The question that we need to ask is: are we doing everything within our personal power to create a better life and to actually make that sacrifice worthy? We are all weighed down by that debt: the people who fought for us need to have that debt repaid by us simply doing everything we possibly can to repay that enormous sacrifice.

I had the privilege two years ago to visit the Western Front and the various Commonwealth war graves in the cemeteries throughout the Western Front. It was certainly a very sombre process to witness so many small graves from that horrendous conflict in the First World War. What I can say is that it is an absolute credit to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission administrators that they were able to keep those cemeteries in such an amazing condition. Just recently, I had the opportunity to also visit the war cemetery in Port Moresby and, again, it has been kept in pristine condition so that those families that get the opportunity to visit their long-lost relatives can acknowledge that they lie in well-manicured surrounds.

Again, on this Friday, we will all have the opportunity, as I will at Shepparton, to remember those who have served.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I firstly acknowledge and thank those who have already spoken in this debate. The last two speakers I heard, the member for McEwen and the member for Murray, both raised very relevant issues for all of us, pertinently, of course, referring to the history of Remembrance Day, initially Armistice Day. This year does mark the 100th anniversary of the battles on the Western Front, the Battle of the Somme; the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan; from my own part of Australia, the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin; and, most appropriately, the 75th anniversary of the Australian War Memorial, that great national place and iconic museum. It is more than a museum: it is a place for us to honour those who have served and continue to serve.

Earlier this year, I had the great privilege of being in attendance at the 100th anniversary commemorative events on the Western Front, including those that gave us an opportunity to remember those battles of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme commenced on 1 July 1916. The British offensive started north-east of the town of Albert. They had 60,000 casualties. Then, on 19 July, in a feint the Australian 5th Division entered the battle of Fromelles. In the space of 24 hours, there were 5,000 casualties, almost 2,000 dead. It was the worst 24 hours in Australia's military history. Then, on 23 July, commenced the battle of Pozieres at Mouquet Farm. It lasted until 3 September. There were 23,000 Australian casualties during that period.

I use these figures only to emphasise that this was really butchery. This was not war as we appreciate war in the sense that people make judgements. This was a war affected by poor leadership, bad strategies and poor tactics, one where leaders actually sent people to certain death. We know the impact that that has had on the Australian nation. During the First World War, we had 416,000, or thereabouts, Australians who served overseas; 60,000 of those were killed and 156,000 were wounded. The member for Murray reminds us that a further 60,000 died in the following two years after the Armistice.

When we are remembering these things, we have to understand what we are talking about. This is about human sacrifice—sacrifice for us. Whilst we can be critical—and I am very critical—of the First World War and the strategies involved, we cannot fault the courage and bravery of those men who served for us, on our behalf, and sacrificed all. It is worth contemplating what this has meant to families. Almost every Australian family was touched in one way or another by the First World War and those battles and the loss of life.

There were some very, very good people, men and women, who worked for us on the Western Front. A Victorian farmer, Sergeant Simon Fraser, was a member of the 57th Battalion. He made some brave efforts to rescue many hundreds of wounded men. He sent a note back on 31 July 1916. In one part he says:

We found a fine haul of wounded and brought them in, but it was not where I heard this fellow calling so I had another shot for it and came across a splendid specimen of humanity trying to wiggle into a trench with a big wound in his thigh: he was about 14 stone weight and I could not lift him on my back, but I managed to get him into an old trench and told him to lie quiet while I got a stretcher. Then another man about 30 yards out sang out, "Don't forget me cobber." I went in and got four volunteers with stretchers and we got both men in safely.

The magnificent Cobbers memorial is a statue of that soldier carrying another wounded soldier, a copy of which is now at the Cenotaph in Melbourne.

It is worth reflecting on a couple of headstones very briefly. Sergeant PJ Ball Military Medal from the 44th Battalion of Australian Imperial forces has this is on his headstone:

I fought and died in the Great War to end all wars. Have I died in vain?

On another headstone of a digger at Villers-Bretonneux, Private W Calhourn of the 48th Battalion, is:

Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten.

Lest we forget.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak on this very important motion, following on from the worthy contributions of the previous members who have spoken on this. On Friday, the nation will pause to reflect at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month and observe one minute's silence in memory of those who have died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts. That will mark the 98th anniversary of the Armistice which ended World War I.

As that centenary draws near, the nation's understanding, appreciation and respect for those we honour remains as strong as ever. Although we have farewelled the last remaining soldiers who returned from that Great War, proceeding generations are keeping their memories alive. Many schools around the nation undertake projects to ensure the lessons of our history at war continue to be learned. They ensure the fallen are not forgotten. They ensure their sacrifice is honoured.

This year, I would like to highlight just one of these projects and the soldiers' experiences it brought to life. In my electorate, the Mackay North State High School conducts Anzac commemorative tours every second year, taking in the battlefields, memorials and cemeteries of Gallipoli, Northern France and Belgium as well as the Thai-Burma Railway and Singapore for the World War II efforts.

History students research a soldier from their home town and find grave sites and relevant memorials on the foreign battlefields. Many streets in Mackay are named after locals who enlisted, and these young history students research the soldier and find grave sites and relevant memorials on foreign battlefields. I would like to share from a letter to the residents of Griffin Street, which is named after two brothers, William and Harry Griffin. The letter was written by Alex Byrne, a student of Mackay North State High School, in 2010.

Alex discovered that Harry Griffin was just 19 years of age when he enlisted in 1914. He joined C Squadron of the 2nd Light Horse Regiment and left Australia in September, to arrive in Egypt two months later. Alex wrote:

He landed at Gallipoli with his unit on 12 May 1915 and fought there until being evacuated, on 10 September, suffering influenza. He was transferred to hospital in Malta; however, his condition worsened and he was sent to England. After, he was transferred to the 49th Battalion and joined his new unit, in France, in January 1917. He was wounded on 5 April 1917, with a gunshot wound to the heel, and rejoined the 49th from hospital in July. Harry was killed in action during the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September 1917—on his 22nd birthday.

Alex also told the story of Harry's older brother, William Griffin, who enlisted in 1916 and was killed in action, in Belgium, in 1917—three months before his younger brother was killed. Alex continued:

There are no accounts of how he died; however, the 47th came up against many machine gun posts during the battle and many members of the battalion were killed whilst attacking these positions.

Losing those two brothers at about the same time must have been devastating for the family back home.

When we pause to reflect on Remembrance Day we reflect not only on the Australian soldiers but also on the Australian sons, brothers, friends, sisters and mothers. These were people who walked in our community, worked in our community, and fought for our community and way of life. I encourage all Australians to attend a commemoration ceremony, in their local community, on this Remembrance Day. I invite them to pause for a minute of silence to remember those who have served in the Australian Defence Force and have made the ultimate sacrifice.

I congratulate Mackay North State High School and all schools in my electorate that undertake research projects and bring these service men and women to life so that we may better remember them and understand what it means to make the sacrifices they made. A better understanding of these soldiers, and Navy and Air Force personnel, and their actions can change how we think about the past. It can also change how we think about the future.

I would like to close with some final thoughts from young Alex Byrne, which he included in his letter to the residents of Griffin Street. He wrote:

My final thoughts as I watched the silent headstones was that we have to live the life these soldiers gave us ... we have to live our lives to the fullest, love our friends and family to the utmost. It's the least we can do—live the life that these men never got.

I congratulate Alex on these fine thoughts and the other students and schools in my electorate who honour our soldiers and keep their memories alive through similar programs. (Time expired)

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to acknowledge the member for Kingston for moving this motion and, also, all the speakers who have spoken on it this morning. The speeches have been moving and they have been powerful and, again, I congratulate the member for Kingston for drawing this motion to our attention. This Friday, 11 November, is Remembrance Day. The day is the anniversary of the armistice that brought to an end the carnage and the chaos of the First World War, and it is important that we remember it. We remember the war even though it was fought by a very different Australia. It was fought by an Australia that was just 14 years old, an Australia with a population less than five million—nearly a fifth of what it is today. Yet, today's Australia is indelibly forged by the terrible sacrifice of its former self; the imprint of the First World War survives to this day.

I recently joined the Australian Garden History Society ACT Monaro Riverina Branch to unveil their 'Planting memories' project in Weston Park in Yarralumla. The project features three commemorative panels remembering a different side of Canberra's wartime contribution. The connection between Canberra and the First World War runs deep; 350 men from the Canberra region served in the war. Many came to work on the construction of Canberra, which was named as the national capital just a year before the outbreak of the Great War. Some of the park's beautiful trees were planted by Charles Weston and his staff during the years of the First World War. Today they serve as a lasting legacy to the Canberra community that gave so much a century ago.

The author Clive James once referred to the First World War as 'a harvest of our tallest poppies'. As a conflict, it holds a terrible record as our costliest. It is why the 11th day of the 11th month is not dedicated to celebration but dedicated to remembrance because we must remember. We must tally its cost and we must bear witness to its scars. As Armistice Day approaches, the day itself retreats further and further from us. Increasingly, we recognise its significance in the abstract. We imagine its horror, the way we imagine how the water of the beaches of Gallipoli must have smelt or the way the exploding of shrapnel must have sounded. We hear its description, but without an experience of our own, we are forced to cobble together an impression of the experience out of others who have already lived through it. So while what we remember is inexact and approximate, we know it is important. Our memories of the cost of war have not been dulled by time. We remember those tallest poppies. We remember what we lost, how we lost it and why. Our young nation lost so many, far from the red soil of home. Some returned to an unrecognisable Australia and lived long lives struggling for peace. All made a remarkable and profound sacrifice in defence of their country.

Their sacrifice is honoured by a grateful nation in a safer and more peaceful world. The world may never see war like Australia did 100 years ago. If we do not, it will be a good thing, a very good thing. Those who served in the First World War exist now only in memory. As their stories of the Great War fade from living memory into history, they become abstract. We write down these stories to externalise them so that the memory of the war can survive the mortality of the warriors. It is important that those memories persist. It is important that when we say 'lest we forget', we do so because how we perceive the world and how we act in it are products of how and what we remember.

To forget the destructive chaos of war is to fail to learn from our failure to prevent it. So I say today, as I will on this and every 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, that at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. We pause to reflect on those Australians who have died in wars and armed conflicts. We remember those who served in the Boer War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and in Afghanistan and Iraq. We remember the peacekeepers. We remember their families and those whose hearts were broken and their lives shattered—permanently changed by their loss. We pause to reflect, as we remember, and we pause as lest we forget.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was a most impressive address from the member for Canberra and I congratulate her on that address, as I do of the members who have spoken previously. Many of them spoke from their hearts and have raised this issue to a crescendo, I would say, of commitment to those who have been lost and those who have gone before us. In 1968, I opened a tiny business on the corner of John Street and Main Street Pakenham—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives

Proceedings suspended from 12 : 45 to 13 : 13

I was saying, just before we went to the division, that in 1968 I started a small business on the corner of John Street and Main Street, Pakenham. One morning I noticed that the police had come and stopped the traffic both ways. I thought, 'What's going on here?' This was a new experience for me. Something was happening. Then I noticed some older people gather at the corner, out the front of the shire office. They were just standing there. I think Graham Treloar might have been there—he was the local hairdresser—with a trumpet or a bugle. I thought, 'I'll wander over and join them.' That was my first Remembrance Day ceremony, standing just on a corner with a group of older people who were remembering the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I stood there with them and noticed their solemnity as they stood there. The local police had come down and stopped the traffic. Now, stopping the traffic in Pakenham in 1968 was not a big issue. We were not lining up a whole lot of people.

An honourable member: You had to hold the horses!

Yes—just about hold the horses. It was a small country town. We were 1,200 people max. I was there for that moment. I remember how sincere the people were that we gathered. I realised that at their age they had direct memories of the families and all of the things that have been described here in this chamber and in the other chamber today—all of the sadness, all of the grief, all of the trauma that was caused to families. Each member has discussed around this issue of Remembrance Day. So there we were on that morning. The police stopped all the traffic. Graham picked up the bugle or the trumpet and played the Last Post. He played Reveille. The policeman walked off after a few moments of silence. The traffic continued. Everybody dispersed. It was done. It was such a simple ceremony. It was so quite. But it left an impression on me for the rest of my life that somewhere, wherever I am on the 11th of the 11th, I stop and spend a moment.

The traffic no longer stops for Remembrance Day in most areas now. Even though we do recognise those that were fallen at that time in ceremonies—and there were a number on Sundays, especially at Springvale and, apparently, according to the member for Dunkley, down in Frankston, where people attended where the fallen lie—we rather see the traffic continue in the main street of Pakenham now. The service is held elsewhere—at the cenotaph. The community is not brought to a standstill—like the way we talk about the Melbourne cup when Australian stops to watch the Melbourne Cup. In that time, literally the town stopped for the 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month and remembered the trauma and loss.

On Friday, we will remember the trauma, we will remember the loss, we will note of the grief that affects families even today. Count the generations: it is only two. So the memory is still strong and the spirit is still strong, and the character that made those men we still see in our younger people today. We see it come through in the generations and we live in pride at our generations of today that are those that have been produced by those that fell in the First World War.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.