Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to honour those who have served our nation in our defence forces and to recognise the historical significance of this year, which is the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice. Earlier this month, I had the distinct pleasure of attending events to mark the centenary of the armistice, two of which I would like to highlight today. The first was hosted jointly by the Naval Association of Australia Perth North Subsection and Wanneroo RSL Sub-Branch, and the other was hosted by the Returned Services League's Highgate RSL Sub-Branch.

The event held in Wanneroo's Memorial Park featured a presentation symbolic of the moments leading up to the cessation of hostilities. Riflemen took up position at the memorial and at two other points in the local area. Blank shots were fired from these points in a symbolic descending order—three rounds from each of the three locations, two rounds from each location and then one round from each location. Immediately following the crack of the final shot, the Last Post started. One bugler played at the memorial and the other buglers played at the three other locations in the area. It's hard to convey exactly what it was like to be there, but it was truly moving and I'm sure that's a sentiment shared by the many locals who also attended. I sincerely thank Mr Graeme Woodford, President of the Naval Association of Australia Perth North Sub-Branch, and Mr Jack Le Cras, President of the Wanneroo RSL Sub-Branch, and their respective organisations, for extending an invitation for me to attend.

The other event I wish to highlight was the Centenary of Armistice luncheon hosted by the Highgate RSL Sub-branch, held at the State Reception Centre in Kings Park, with special guest the Hon. Kim Beazley AC, the Governor of Western Australia. The luncheon followed a formal Remembrance Day service to launch the Remembrance Walk project and the Virtual Memorial Project and thank the Department of Veterans' Affairs for supporting and funding the projects. The Remembrance Walk project brings wartime heritage into the digital age. The application communicates the historical significance of each of the 29 war memorials in Kings Park in the context of Australia's military service over the last 100 years and beyond. The application includes historical photographs and accounts of each memorial, access to information relating to the wartime campaigns and military units, and links to the veterans' associations and the Australian War Memorial.

The Virtual Memorial project aims to digitise all war memorials in Western Australia and provide public access to the names and biographical details of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen commemorated on them. Starting at the State War Memorial for World War I, the project's mission was to list, and provide details about, every name inscribed on the memorial by the Centenary of Armistice. Upon completion, the project was expanded to include those named on the State War Memorial for World War II and all subsequent military conflicts. The digitised memorial includes biographical details from the Australian War Memorial, the National Archives of Australia, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the nominal rolls of the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Further research connected with this project has revealed names that should be added to the State War Memorial. This project has preserved—and, in some cases, uncovered—the legacy of those who were, or should have been, listed on the State War Memorial and made it accessible to the public.

I would like to extend my thanks and the thanks of many others to the Remembrance Walk project's director Lieutenant Colonel Steve Chamarette (Rtd), and the Virtual Memorial project's director Group Captain Ian Petkoff AM (Rtd) for their invaluable contribution to the community of Western Australia. Their efforts will ensure Australia's military history and service records are safe, secure and accessible by all, well into the future.

That brings me to an important point. Why is it that we, as a country, as a land of free people, commemorate those who fought, and remember those who fell, in service of our great nation and its values? I would like to share with you something that I saw on that particular day. On the back of the Centenary of Armistice Remembrance Day program, there was a harrowing quote from a former Prime Minister of Australia, Mr John Curtin. This quote from Mr Curtin was written by Mr Curtin in November 1918, almost two decades before he, a proud Western Australian, became the Prime Minister of this great nation. In November 1918, he said:

For more than four terrible years the tumultuous flames of war have lit the sky with death … History has no parallel to the destruction that has been occasioned. The toll demanded of life and limb; the price paid in anguish of spirit and bafflement of high hope; the tears; the suffering; the terrific mortality of actual combatants; the actual and potential devitalising of civilisation itself, is too vast a computation for living men to make … Tomorrow must assuredly be a better and fairer day.

Those are the words of a proud Western Australian, a great Western Australian indeed, a former Prime Minister, made almost two decades before he led our nation into terrible conflict. This is a deeply stirring and emotive quote. Let's take a step back and reflect on what it was that John Curtin was talking about.

The Great War, the First World War, saw over 330,000 Australians serve overseas and around 60,000 never returned. The social impact on a young country like Australia, with its small population, was absolutely enormous. It touched every Australian life. Almost every person, family and community suffered some kind of loss. For example, in my home state of Western Australia, we played an especially important and significant role in our country's first and most significant military endeavour. Albany, a small town on the south of our great Western Australian coastline, was the final departure point for the first convoy of soldiers to leave Australia, including those who had come from New Zealand. Over 30,000, approximately 10 per cent, of Western Australia's resident population enlisted to serve. For a small population, Western Australians should be proud that 10 of our soldiers received the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour awarded for acts of bravery. On those numbers, WA contributed a higher proportion than any other state in Australia. Every Australian has reason to reflect on what this meant for a small community and a country populated as sparsely as Australia was at that time.

For Australia at large, there were nearly 272,000 Australians who survived in the war and 170,000 suffered from wounds or illness. But not all injuries were physical. Even as the guns on the Western Front fell silent, for many Australians the effects of the First World War never stopped. The memories, scars and nightmares remained with them for the rest of their lives. The term 'shell-shocked' was used to describe the condition of soldiers who had suffered mental breakdown, a condition where a person would be stuck in a constant state of fear and anxiety. We now know this condition by its modern name, post-traumatic stress disorder. But, back then, the psychological scars were so often left untreated due to the limited knowledge of psychiatry at the time.

War and conflict have a unique impact on those who experience them and on the families of those who return from them. The government and civil society groups across Australia, like the Returned and Services League, continue to provide for veterans and their families to honour their service and commitment to our nation. Referring back to Curtin's reflection on war, I extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to every Returned and Services League branch across Australia, particularly to the Wanneroo RSL and the Highgate RSL, for the continuous work they do to remember, reflect and ultimately reward the loss and sacrifice made by so many others in the name of our great Commonwealth, Australia.