Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was a most impressive address from the member for Canberra and I congratulate her on that address, as I do of the members who have spoken previously. Many of them spoke from their hearts and have raised this issue to a crescendo, I would say, of commitment to those who have been lost and those who have gone before us. In 1968, I opened a tiny business on the corner of John Street and Main Street Pakenham—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives

Proceedings suspended from 12 : 45 to 13 : 13

I was saying, just before we went to the division, that in 1968 I started a small business on the corner of John Street and Main Street, Pakenham. One morning I noticed that the police had come and stopped the traffic both ways. I thought, 'What's going on here?' This was a new experience for me. Something was happening. Then I noticed some older people gather at the corner, out the front of the shire office. They were just standing there. I think Graham Treloar might have been there—he was the local hairdresser—with a trumpet or a bugle. I thought, 'I'll wander over and join them.' That was my first Remembrance Day ceremony, standing just on a corner with a group of older people who were remembering the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I stood there with them and noticed their solemnity as they stood there. The local police had come down and stopped the traffic. Now, stopping the traffic in Pakenham in 1968 was not a big issue. We were not lining up a whole lot of people.

An honourable member: You had to hold the horses!

Yes—just about hold the horses. It was a small country town. We were 1,200 people max. I was there for that moment. I remember how sincere the people were that we gathered. I realised that at their age they had direct memories of the families and all of the things that have been described here in this chamber and in the other chamber today—all of the sadness, all of the grief, all of the trauma that was caused to families. Each member has discussed around this issue of Remembrance Day. So there we were on that morning. The police stopped all the traffic. Graham picked up the bugle or the trumpet and played the Last Post. He played Reveille. The policeman walked off after a few moments of silence. The traffic continued. Everybody dispersed. It was done. It was such a simple ceremony. It was so quite. But it left an impression on me for the rest of my life that somewhere, wherever I am on the 11th of the 11th, I stop and spend a moment.

The traffic no longer stops for Remembrance Day in most areas now. Even though we do recognise those that were fallen at that time in ceremonies—and there were a number on Sundays, especially at Springvale and, apparently, according to the member for Dunkley, down in Frankston, where people attended where the fallen lie—we rather see the traffic continue in the main street of Pakenham now. The service is held elsewhere—at the cenotaph. The community is not brought to a standstill—like the way we talk about the Melbourne cup when Australian stops to watch the Melbourne Cup. In that time, literally the town stopped for the 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month and remembered the trauma and loss.

On Friday, we will remember the trauma, we will remember the loss, we will note of the grief that affects families even today. Count the generations: it is only two. So the memory is still strong and the spirit is still strong, and the character that made those men we still see in our younger people today. We see it come through in the generations and we live in pride at our generations of today that are those that have been produced by those that fell in the First World War.

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