Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

GOSLING () (): I rise to acknowledge Corporal Reg Hillier, the only Territorian killed in the Vietnam War. Reg grew up around Darwin, riding horses and mustering cattle, and he learnt from Aboriginal stockmen how to track animals in the bush. He joined the Army, and in 1965, at age 26, he was posted to Vietnam, where he used the bush skills he'd learnt in the north.

Reg was killed, tragically, in action on 29 November 1965 as his battalion, 1 RAR, cleared a village. His family were told that it would cost 1,000 pounds to have his body returned home—a sum they just couldn't afford. Against their wishes, he was buried in Malaysia.

The Hillier family fought hard for decades to have Reg brought home to the Top End. I commend the president of Veterans Australia NT, Vietnam veteran Bob Shewring OAM, for his efforts to bring them home. He established, with others, a campaign to repatriate the remains of Australians that were buried overseas, usually because their families couldn't afford it. Bob has written a terrific book, called Reg, which I was happy to launch recently with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and also an Australian legend, Keith Payne VC, in Darwin. Lest we forget.