Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on the 70th anniversary of VP Day, and I take great pride in doing that. At 12 noon Tokyo time on 15 August 1945, Japan signed an unconditional surrender to bring the war in the Pacific, and indeed the Second World War, to an end, an important moment in Australia's history. Through those six years, nearly one million Australians served. Almost 40,000 lost their lives. Many, many more thousands suffered physical and mental wounds or suffered the ultimate indignity of spending time during that conflict as prisoners of war.

Tasmania had a very proud record of service during the Second World War. My uncle Desmond Cordell served in the Air Force in the Second World War. The 2/40th Infantry Battalion was recruited almost entirely from Tasmania. They served in Dutch Timor, forming the bulk of what was known as Sparrow Force, which defended the airfield at Penfui, the operational base for the RAAF's Hudson bombers of No. 2 Squadron, of which my uncle was a member. Many of those were taken as prisoners of war in 1942.

Sailor Teddy Sheean was also born in Tasmania. He served aboard HMAS Armidale off the coast of Timor in December of 1942, when the ship came under heavy attack by Japanese aircraft. The ship was hit by two torpedos and began to sink. Anyone that has not seen the painting of Teddy Sheean wounded, refusing to abandon ship and strapped to his gun, shooting at the Japanese aircraft even as the ship was sinking below the surface, should do so. To imagine an 18-year-old in that circumstance is something that really is quite extraordinary.

I had the privilege on 15 August this year to attend a memorial service at St Helens in my electorate. It was a wonderful service. It combined the unveiling of 23 plaques, on which are the names of the 1,382 Tasmanian men and women known to have died from their World War II service, serving with various Australian, British and New Zealand armed forces and merchant navies. My absolute congratulations go to Mr Graham Cameron for the work that he undertook to collate this information and to include also all of those men that served in World War I; we will have an opportunity to unveil those plaques later this year. These plaques were made possible by a contribution of $24,000 from the Australian government, and having those plaques unveiled made that remembrance service all the more special.

Of particular note, I should add that there were a number of World War II veterans in attendance that day. These men and women are well into their 90s now, and some are increasingly frail, but truly it made a very special day even more special. I will just acknowledge those veterans that were in attendance at St Helens. Mr Alf Barnett served in New Britain. Mr Roy Moody served in Bougainville. Mr Len Smith served in PNG and Bougainville. Mr Max Franks served in northern Australia. Ray Coltman served on HMAS Warramunga in the Pacific and, significantly, was in Tokyo Bay on the ship during the surrender of Japan. Barney Fletcher served in PNG, Mr Bill Deacon in northern Australia and Mr Allan Brown also in northern Australia. Peggy Cameron served with the nurses in Malaya and in the RAANC post World War II.

It was a wonderful service, and to make it even more special we had Mr Brian Freeman from Walking Wounded, which is an extraordinary story. Brian is an ex-serviceman; he served in Afghanistan. He is the founder and executive director of Walking Wounded. It is his mission to raise awareness of the plight of veterans and the challenges and difficulties that many veterans face, particularly our current veterans, on returning from active service overseas and assimilating back into normal civilian life. Brian Freeman, on behalf of Walking Wounded, has a roll of honour from Afghanistan that was presented to Walking Wounded by the Governor-General of Australia, His Excellency General the Hon. Sir Peter Cosgrove, on Remembrance Day 2014. After travelling from Mount Everest and throughout Australia—including kayaking across Bass Strait—and along the Kokoda Track and up Mount Kilimanjaro, it will be returned to the Governor-General at the Australian War Memorial on the eve of Remembrance Day 2015. It was a wonderful thing to have Brian and a number of supporters that follow him on his walk. They really, as he said, have not had to put their hands in their pockets at all. They have had the generosity of the communities that they have passed through on their travels around Australia. It made this very significant occasion in St Helens all the more special.

Can I just briefly acknowledge the other people who organised the service. I mentioned Mr Graham Cameron. From the RSL, there was Mr Greg 'Legsy' Eyles, and Mr Harry Jager also participated in the service. As I mentioned, Mr Len Smith was the MC. Contributions on the day we were made by Mayor Mick Tucker and yours truly. It was a very special event, with schoolchildren from the high school and representation from TS Argonaut, which is the naval cadet training ship that is located in St Helens and conducts its activities on Georges Bay. They are a very active naval cadet unit and they have a wonderful leadership. They are an outstanding group of young people. Many over the years have gone on to serve in the Australian Navy, having started their interest in these areas with TS Argonaut.

As I mentioned before, it gives me great pleasure to recognise all of those Australians who served—and many of whom gave their lives—during the Second World War. It is appropriate at this time that we recognise the sacrifice that they made for us and the generations to come.

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