Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Hastie, I too rise to support this important motion and thank the member for Goldstein and the other members of parliament who are speaking on this motion. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge your service to your country overseas in the theatres you served in.

The motion before the House today is about a date of great importance for our nation and its history. In mid-October of 1918, the Allied forces advanced and fractures showed between the Central Powers. By the end of the month, Turkey had signed an armistice, and Austria-Hungary quickly followed only days later. Germany felt the immense pressures of war and its power began to implode, with the Kaiser finally abdicating on 9 November. At 5 am on 11 November, the final armistice was signed, calling for an immediate cessation of fighting along the Western Front at 1100 hours. So, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, after four brutal and bloody years of conflict, the Great War had ended.

No-one could have predicted the casualty rate of the First World War. Losses were heavy and gains were small. The war saw the mobilisation of over 70 million people, and around 17 million soldiers and civilians were killed. As many as one-third of these were left with no known grave. In addition to this loss, a further 20 million were wounded. From Australia, with a population of less than five million at the time, 416,809 Australian men enlisted, of whom 60,000 were killed. Over 16,900 Australians remain unknown or unaccounted for on the Western Front. A further 156,000 Australians were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. The Australian War Memorial notes that for Australia the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties.

As weapons were laid down on 11 November, the Allied nations chose this day to remember and commemorate those lost at war. It remains a significant day for all Australians, as communities across the country, from small towns to big cities, pause to remember the sacrifice of Australian servicemen and servicewomen. The period from 2014 to 2018 marks the Century of Service, a time where Australians are given a chance to remember the service and sacrifice of all who fought during World War I. The Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 was the first key engagement of our Australian soldiers on the Western Front. The Australian Fifth Division suffered 5,533 casualties in the first 24 hours, making it Australia's single most bloody day in our military history. Almost 300,000 Australians served on the Western Front. Forty-five thousand Australians lost their lives, and more than one-third of those have no known grave. In July of last year, six formerly unknown Australian soldiers were given headstone dedications at the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. It allowed us as Australians to recognise the sacrifices they made and the hardships they endured to make this nation what it is today.

Closer to home, in my electorate of Swan, the City of Belmont remembers Private Robert William Mellor of Belgravia Street in Belmont. Private Mellor enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 4 September 1916 and left for France in the following June. Only three months later, Private Mellor was killed in action. He was shot by a sniper while delivering ammunition to the front line. Private Mellor's name can be found on the City of Belmont's War Memorial in Faulkner Park, alongside the names of 33 other soldiers from the Belmont district who also lost their lives in the Great War. In 2015 the memorial was upgraded after the City of Belmont successfully secured $50,000 from the federal government as part of the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. The funding contributed to a $280,000 upgrade project which saw the installation of ramps, additional flagpoles and panels for commemorative plaques. The Belmont War Memorial, originally erected in 1923 to commemorate those that lost their lives in the Great War, now recognises the service and the sacrifices of all our men and women who have been directly involved with all the wars and conflicts that have followed.

Similarly, the Victoria Park RSL sub branch also received $50,000, which saw the erection of a memorial wall to honour those residents of the town of Victoria Park who enlisted or volunteered for active service during the First World War. That particular RSL is on Fred Bell Parade, named for a Western Australian who won his VC for valour in action in the Second Boer War and then went on to fight in the First World War, so he is proudly recognised by the town of Victoria Park.

So, on this Remembrance Day past and on 11 November this year, I pay my respects and give thanks to all of our servicepeople for what they have done and continue to do for our nation, its values and our freedoms. I am confident all those present in this chamber will join with me in doing so. Lest we forget.

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