Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great joy to stand up here tonight and make a short contribution on what I got up to in the last few weeks. Every year, as the patron for Darling Range Sports College in Western Australia, formerly the Forrestfield high school, I take a delegation of 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds on the Western Front Anzac Remembrance Tour—the 'Senator Sterle tour'. This year I had the pleasure of escorting 22 young Australians—a fantastic group. In total there have been 59 year 11s and year 12s who have gone on this tour. The Principal, Mr Peter Noack, goes on the trip every year—I know it is hard work, Pete, but thanks, mate, for coming along with us—and, of course, Ms Amanda Fleming was lucky teacher this year who drew the longest straw and got to join us on the trip.

What we normally do is treat the students to a bit of an experience in Europe. This year we turned it around and tweaked it a little bit, and we gave them three days in London. For all of these students it was their first experience overseas. They had three days in London and thought they were on a wonderful European holiday, but they knew it was work. They knew that the exciting bits were achievable because of the brave acts of our young men 100 years ago in the Middle East. Next year we will be commemorating 100 years on the Western Front from France and Belgium. We also give the students the opportunity to experience Paris for three days—and then we start our bus tour, and we head to the Australian memorials in northern France. The one we always visit is the National Australian Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. For the last two years we commemorated the Anzac Day dawn service at Villers Bretonneux, but this year we twisted it around and, after consultation, Mr Peter Noack and I decided we wanted to spend and commemorate Anzac Day in Belgium.

We visited Villers Bretonneux. That was the first taste of the Commonwealth war graves for the Australian students. A couple of regular sites we always visit are the VC Corner and the cobbers memorial. We take the students into Thiepval, which is a British one. It is a wonderful memorial, but it also has a very interactive centre. Of course, we can never do the Western Front without visiting Pheasant Wood in Fromelles. I make sure that there is one grave and headstone that the students see every year. It is the grave of an Australian soldier from South Australia who was too young to serve and so he fibbed about who he was, and, at the age of 16, he ventured off to the Western Front. He arrived in June—I cannot remember the day exactly—around the 5th, and he was killed on the 6th. This brave young man was the same age as the students that I take.

We also had a real highlight this year, because the great-great-uncle of one of our students, Trent Young, is buried in Peronne. We went to the communal extension cemetery—there are a number of Commonwealth soldiers buried there—and we found the grave of young Trent's great-great-uncle Lieutenant Arthur Lindsay Cope. He served in the 21st battalion and he was killed by machine gun fire in Mont Saint-Quentin in September 1918 while leading a bomb-clearing expedition. He was originally buried in Mont Saint-Quentin but was eventually moved to the place where he rests today. It was a fantastic experience for young Trent, and if you have some spare time and you visit my Facebook, Mr President, you will find a wonderfully warm photo there that shows the compassion that the group shared with young Trent when he found great-great-uncle Arthur Lindsay.

I do not have a lot of time, but I want to quickly talk about Belgium. We commemorated Anzac Day, as I said, in Belgium at Polygon Wood. It was a fantastic ceremony. We also visited Tyne Cot, and a lot of Australian members of parliament would know Tyne Cot because most of us have had the pleasure of visiting Tyne Cot. We also did a service at Menin Gate—and we all know Menin Gate, and I will talk a little bit about Menin Gate—and at Ploegsteert, Hill 60 and Passchendaele museum. We had the pleasure of laying wreaths at all these cemeteries. We also made a diversion on our tour and went to a Belgian military cemetery named Houthulst, where we wanted to commemorate our fallen friends, the Belgians.

I want to say a couple of things about the Menin Gate because over the years I have managed to build some fantastic friendships with the Belgians. I know we have got a Belgian in the Senate, but these Belgians are really good guys. Senator Cormann is a good guy too at times, but these are real good guys and they are friends of mine. I had to say that, Mr President, so that you would not pull me up. I want to acknowledge a couple of them. I want to acknowledge a fantastic friend of Australia, Mr Didier Pontzeele. Didier is the head of the Belgian War Graves office. He looks after the Australian headstones and graves of those buried in Belgian plots or in communal plots. They are mainly RAF and RAAF men who are lying in those cemeteries, and he does a fantastic job. But he is also a great host to the kids.

I have brought Didier out to Australia twice, and I will be bringing him out again in November. He will be doing a speaking tour. I will have him here in Canberra and, through you, Mr President, I will be asking if we can find a room here so he can come and meet a host of senators and members. I would love for you to meet him too, along with the rest of our colleagues, to see what he does. He is a really engaging guy, an ex-serviceman with the Belgian Army. His wife, Ann, accompanies Didier when he comes out too. She made the wreaths for us. She has a florist shop in Ghent, their home town, and she did a wonderful job of making about 12 or 13 wreaths, I think it was, that we got the kids to lay.

I want to acknowledge Mr Jean Cardoen who is from the Belgian National Institute of Veterans and Victims of War, who was once again hosting our group in Ghent. They go out of their way to look after us. I want to acknowledge a real good mate of mine, Mr Paul Breyne. He is the Commissioner-General for the Commemoration of World War One in Belgium. Paul: thank you, mate. Every year I appreciate what you do for the group and the access that you give us to the ceremonies. We are never ever left out of it, and the kids are really part of every ceremony. I acknowledge Mr Benoit Mottrie. Benoit is no stranger. Benoit's good mate is Mr Brendan Nelson. We brought Benoit and a couple of the buglers from the Last Post out last year. Benoit falls over himself—and I do not say that lightly because he stands about 14 foot three; you cannot miss Benoit—to make sure that the students in our group get right up the front and get to lay wreaths at the Menin Gate every year.

We know the story of the Menin Gate; we know how fantastic it is. Even when we did the commemorative service on Anzac Day, Benoit made sure that our Aussie students were at the front and our Aussie students got to lay the wreaths, and you have got about 3,000 people there that have to wait till the ceremony is over before they do theirs. Benoit: thank you, mate, and we will see you again next year. Tony and Dirk, our buglers from the Last Post Association, are no strangers. They come over every year and make sure that they introduce themselves to the kids. They have also been to Australia. We brought them out.

I have a couple of quickies. I just want to mention a very special gentleman we met at Polygon Wood. His name was Carl, I think. Carl was the man who was having some renovations done at his property in Zonnebeke. The excavation was about, we are told, two foot from his house. They were digging down and they discovered a parcel of bodies. It was five soldiers wrapped in a tarpaulin and tied up with telephone wire, and, of course, they could not tell who was what. I do not have to explain too much, but Carl said they opened the wrapping and there was one boy whose eye they looked into. Carl said it was very moving but he was ready to be found. The kids experienced this story with him, and it was so moving, and those stories happen every day.

We do not think so much about it and we think about these lovely headstones and we see how well the Commonwealth War Graves Commission looks after our fallen boys. But we also know that it could only be a bone or a finger. So when Mr Didier Pontzeele comes, Mr President, I really know that you will enjoy a slide show that he will have. Whatever we can do to thank our Belgian friends, I will make sure that we never forget this. To all the Belgian friends over there that look after us: thank you very, very much. To the parents of the 22 students, I cannot express in enough words: thank you very much for letting your young ones join me on my tour. They were absolutely fantastic, and I look forward to next year's journey.