Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I shared a wonderful story celebrating a little corporal called Horrie. It was on the war animals remembrance day, and Corporal Horrie was a tiny, flea-bitten desert dog that was found by Australian soldiers in Egypt. He was hardly the image of a soldier, you might say, but the men who found him saw something worth saving. They took him in. They fed him. They trusted him. And, before long, he became one of them. He became a mate and a fellow soldier.

Horrie travelled with them across the Middle East and the Mediterranean. He served. He survived shipwreck. He endured hunger, heat and hardship. And he had a gift: he could hear enemy aircraft long before the human ear could. That gift saved lives. And, when the war ended, his mates couldn't bear to leave him behind. They smuggled him home to Australia, where he lived out his days surrounded by the men who knew what service really looked like. Horrie reminds us that service comes in many forms. Sometimes it's courage in battle. Sometimes it's loyalty. Sometimes it's a tiny, flea-bitten dog that saves lives with his ears.

Not only was Horrie afforded the rank of corporal, but also he was fashioned a uniform, and that uniform now is in the Australian War Memorial. And that's what the War Memorial captures. It's not just battles. It's not just dates. It is the humanity of service.

The memorial was imagined not simply as a building but as a sacred national space—a space where a grieving nation could remember those who'd served and those who never returned. It is a national shrine of remembrance, a world-class museum and an archive preserving official records, artefacts and deeply personal stories for generations to come. Through these three functions, it leads remembrance and—potentially, the most important—it deepens our understanding of Australia's wartime experience. I'm a great believer that, if you understand the history, you've got a far better chance of understanding the future and charting a better course.

Right now, the memorial is changing. A major redevelopment is underway, scheduled for completion in 2028. It's about more than walls and galleries. It's about ensuring there is space to tell the stories of contemporary service too—of the men and women of the Australian Defence Force who serve today, in our time. That includes the 3,500 dedicated serving members at the Williamtown RAAF base in my electorate and at bases across the country.

The Albanese Labor government has provided the resources to make this possible, ensuring the memorial continues to stand as one of our nation's most important cultural institutions. And, just like Horrie's story, this redevelopment is about more than bricks and mortar. It's an investment in remembrance itself. It's about making sure that future Australians can continue to learn, to reflect and to honour the service and sacrifice of those who've worn our nation's uniform.

I want to applaud the Australian War Memorial for staying open throughout this redevelopment. Australians can still walk the halls, see the exhibitions, explore the archives and remember—because remembrance is not paused for construction. It continues. It persists. It matters.

When I think of Horrie—who was affectionately known as 'Horrie the wog dog' back in those days—I think of the way the memorial tells his story and the story of every soldier, every nurse, every airman, every sailor and every family left behind. It reminds us that service is not about uniforms or medals. It's about courage. It's about loyalty. It's about sacrifice. And, quite frankly, it's about love. And that is why we invest in the memorial. That is why we ensure its sustainability. That is why we make sure future generations can hear these stories, feel these stories and be inspired by them—just as we are inspired by Corporal Horrie and the thousands of others whose service defines who we are as Australians—particularly those young school children who, I know, visit the memorial and are greatly impacted by the experience that they have there.

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