Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight in the adjournment debate to speak about the recent discovery of the bodies of two missing World War I soldiers in the battlefields of the Western Front, almost 90 years after being killed in action. The remains of Sergeant George Calder of northern Victoria and Private John Hunter of southern Queensland were found last month by a stroke of luck when authorities in Belgium were digging up a road to install a gas line.

I would like to focus on the story of Private Hunter, who was from the town of Nanango in the South Burnett, which is now in my electorate as a result of the recent boundary redistribution. John Hunter was the oldest of seven children and was affectionately known as ‘Jack’ by his family. He moved to Nanango in his late teens with his mother and father, Henry and Emily Hunter, to help run their new timber business. With the help of his younger brother Jim, John put bullock teams together for the family business. He was very involved in the local community and played for the Nanango football team. The Hunter family’s story has it that he even had a girlfriend or fiance from the local area before he went to war.

On 20 October 1916, Jim Hunter enlisted and was closely followed by John, who enlisted five days later. This was against their father’s will, but I am sure Henry would have given them his blessing before they left on HMS Ayreshire in 1917. Both brothers made their way to the Western Front in Belgium and, on 25 August 1917, became part of the 49th Battalion. Private Hunter was fighting on the front line for just over one month when he was killed in action. He was among 38,000 young Australian men who were killed or wounded in the battles of Passchendaele.

It was on 26 September 1917 that Private John Hunter’s life was taken during the battle of Polygon Wood. Putting aside any fear for his own life, Private John Hunter volunteered to be a runner and to go over the top of the trench to clear a piece of tin that was shining in the soldiers’ eyes. In this tremendous act of courage, he was tragically shot in no-man’s-land and, as the Hunter family history has it, died in his brother Jim’s arms. He was only 28 years old and had been serving in the Australian Army for 11 months. During the heat of the battle, Jim wrapped his fatally wounded brother’s body in a groundsheet and hastily buried him in a temporary grave. However, the Battle of Polygon Wood was so fierce and the country became so destroyed that later it was impossible for Jim to find his brother’s body. On Jim’s return from the war, he made sure that the memory of his older brother John was never forgotten. He told many stories and loved remembering the good times they had had together. They were not only brothers but mates. Until the day he died, Jim lived with the regret of not being able to find his brother in those battlefields. In fact, his last word spoken before he passed away was ‘John’.

Thanks to good fortune and modern science, Private John Hunter’s body has been positively identified through DNA from the maternal line of John’s family. After over 90 years of being at rest in a makeshift grave, Private John Hunter of the 49th Battalion, 4th Division, will have a proper burial, just as his brother Jim had intended. A ceremony will be held at Buttes Military Cemetery at Zonnebeke in Belgium on 4 October this year and will be attended by Australia’s Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery. Two of Private Hunter’s family members will also be present to bury a young man whom they never knew but whom they certainly never forgot. On 4 October, Private John Hunter will rest in peace with the other 564 Australian soldiers who are buried at Buttes Military Cemetery in Belgium. So too will his younger brother, Jim Hunter, in a grave on the other side of the world. May we never forget those who lost their lives defending this great country. I bring this matter to the adjournment tonight to ensure that the lives of these two wonderful people, particularly Private John Hunter, will not be forgotten but will be recorded permanently in the Hansard of this parliament.