Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the foyer of the Australian War Memorial sits an old lifeboat. It has been part of the collection since it opened. Most visitors would have passed it. At first glance it is unremarkable. Yet it is one of the most iconic and tangible reminders of the Gallipoli campaign. For this steel lifeboat was one of the boats which participated in the landing at Anzac Cove. One hundred years ago, on 25 April, the first Anzacs were climbing down rope ladders from their transports. They made the last stage of the journey in rowing boats like that one. They did so orderly and quietly. It was pitch dark. The commander of one of the destroyers said to the Australians on the deck, 'Lights out, men, and stop talking; we're going in now.' Our official war historian, Charles Bean, described the scene: 'In the silent crowded boats the tension was extreme. Did the Turks suspect? Were they posted on those invisible hills and on the beaches? Would they detect the landing? Would they resist it in force? When would the first shot come?'

The 10th Battalion from South Australia was amongst the first to land. In the pre-dawn light they faced cliffs 200 feet above sea level and ground riddled with gullies. They carried heavy backpacks, with 200 rounds of ammunition, an entrenching tool, water and two days of rations. They ran across the shingle of the beach, took cover and began to climb.

Two South Australians, Private Arthur Blackburn and Private Phillip Robin, went further than anyone else and glimpsed their goal. Arthur Blackburn, a lawyer, later won the Victoria Cross at Pozieres in 1916 and served in the Second World War as Commander of Blackforce in Java, where he was captured and was a prisoner of war for 3½ years. The office of the Department of Veterans' Affairs in Adelaide is named Blackburn House in his honour. He lives on through his daughter, Margie Forbes, who I have known for more than 30 years, and his son-in-law, Dr Jim Forbes, a former federal member for Barker and also a Military Cross winner in the Second World War. Phillip Robin was an accountant who worked for the Bank of Adelaide. He played for Norwood and South Australia and won the 1907 reserves Magarey Medal for football. He was killed three days after the landing.

So who were these men? They joined as volunteers and trained at the Morphettville camp, which was erected on and around the racecourse. They undertook their training along the Glenelg and Brighton foreshores. They went for long marches to the Light Horse remount depot at O'Halloran Hill. They marched to Belair National Park and bivouacked there for two nights. They still behaved like any young men. A smile or wave from the nurses of the Adelaide Hospital who were visiting the camp was enough to distract them from their training.

After parading before the Governor at Parliament House on North Terrace, the proprietor of the Half-Way House on the Bay Road, Mr Tolley, supplied free beer to the parched troops. We know that establishment today as the Highway Inn, and the Bay Road was later renamed Anzac Highway in their honour. In two months they were transformed from civilians to soldiers.

So who were these men? They were teachers, blacksmiths, lawyers and shearers. They were drovers, accountants, railway men and labourers. They walked our streets. They were part of this community. Their names are on memorials and plaques all around Australia.    We will not forget them. We will remember them. They are no longer with us, but they were us.

Anzac Day, including the Centenary of Anzac, has been embraced more and more by Australians over the last few years. It is, of course, very heartening that so many Australians wish to honour those who served during the First World War and in all too many instances never returned home. Along the way, these soldiers have in some ways been turned into figures from a story. We often hear it said that Gallipoli was the birth of our nation. Yes, these men are symbols. But we should also remember that they were more than that—they were just like you and me.

In my electorate of Boothby, my local community has been embracing Anzac Day services more and more over the last few years, with attendance numbers continuing to grow. For my part, I was very honoured to give the address at this year's dawn service at the Brighton Arch of Remembrance, where thousands of people turned out in the pre-dawn hours. The services I attended this year were cold, windy and, in the case of the Blackwood youth vigil, in the middle of a torrential downpour, but all of my electorate's local communities made a special effort this year.

I would like to congratulate the RSLs, the local councils and the many residents of my electorate for their efforts to commemorate this historic milestone. Leading the effort have been the local RSL sub-branches. Every year they work for months to make sure that the events of the First World War are properly commemorated and remembered. I would like to pay tribute to their efforts, not just in organising the commemorations but in all the work they do on behalf of our veterans.

Another way that my local community embraced the centenary was the huge response that we saw to the government's Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. It was particularly gratifying to see how many local schools were eager to participate in the program and incorporate the centenary into their activities over the year. While the RSLs and established commemorative groups were of course among the many recipients, of the 15 successful grant applicants, almost two-thirds were from local schools. This program really provided the community with the opportunity to create new and rejuvenated memorials to commemorate the service and sacrifice of Australian service men and women but also to commemorate the event in novel ways.

Successful applicants to the program included the Repat Foundation, the Brighton RSL, the Marion Historic Village Display Centre, the Blackwood RSL, the Rotary Club of Flagstaff Hill, the Colonel Light Gardens RSL, Aberfoyle Park High School, Brighton Secondary School, Westminster School, Blackwood High School, Aberfoyle Park Primary School, Scotch College, Flagstaff Hill R-7 School, Seacliff Primary School and Colonel Light Gardens Primary School.

The schools in particular have been very engaged and have come up with ideas that really involve the students and the school community. Some are constructing new memorials; others are staging plays or musical productions; others are collecting and displaying First World War memorabilia and using them as part of their curriculum. There are a couple I would like to briefly mention. One of the grants funded the dedication a brand-new war memorial at the Aberfoyle Park School's site, which I had the honour of attending. This memorial is particularly significant for this area of my electorate, as before then there was no existing memorial in the area commemorating the locals who served during the First World War. I would also like to thank the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of Anzac for making the time to attend that dedication. It was an important day for the students of Aberfoyle Park Primary School, and his presence showed them how much we appreciated their efforts to see this new memorial built.

A second project that had the selection committee quite excited was one which is currently underway by the students of Colonel Light Gardens Primary School. The Colonel Light Gardens Primary School is on the site of what was the Mitcham Army Camp, which was an important staging post for World War I soldiers before they embarked for overseas. The school is producing a 15-minute film about the First World War and the meaning of Anzac Day in a local context, as told and shown by the students. The younger students will undertake activities such as making and learning about the significance of poppies; re-enactments of army training; writing historical fiction or poetry; and artwork and models. Older students will research Gallipoli and other battles, and what it was like being a child, soldier, mother, doctor or nurse from the era, telling this from their subject's perspective and connecting it to local families where they can. These activities will be incorporated into the curriculum, and the end product will be a film featuring, researched and narrated by children, for children. Once finished, they plan to make it available to other primary schools as ongoing teaching resource.

These commemoration activities, as well as all of those taking place around our community, show that the memory of those who served—and those who continue to serve—will not be forgotten. The memory of our Anzacs continues strong, and I am confident that Australians will continue to remember their legacy—to the 150th anniversary, the 200th anniversary, and beyond. Lest we forget.

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