Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to update the House on progress to establish a Chinese-Australian war memorial in my electorate. The memorial will honour the past and present involvement of Chinese-Australians serving in the Australian defence forces. This week I will write to Chinese leaders and Chinese community groups in my electorate to seek nominees for a steering committee to oversee this timely project. The steering committee will help raise funds and engage with local RSLs, local schools, the Chinese community and the broader electorate. The committee will also seek input into the design of the memorial—for example, this might take the form of a design competition in my local schools. There is already strong support for the memorial and for its location at the Sunnybank RSL, in Gager Street. I inspected the RSL with the president, Robert Lippiatt, recently.

I am committed to setting up this memorial because I believe the stories of the Chinese diaspora at war for Australia need to be told. In fact, it has been claimed that there were more Chinese-Australians serving in our armed forces during the great wars than any other minority group in Australia. Chinese-Australians made significant contributions during the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, the conflict in Malaya, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other conflicts.

I have spoken before in this place about the heroics of World War I veteran and Chinese-Australian citizen Private William Edward Sing, better known as Billy Sing, and a great Queenslander. He was known to his fellow diggers as ‘The Assassin’. Billy was a sniper with the Australian 5th Light Horse Regiment and is conservatively credited with more than 150 kills in Gallipoli. His story is told in Gallipoli Sniper, by John Hamilton.

Another Chinese-Australian war hero is Sergeant Jack Wong Sue, who served behind enemy lines in Borneo as a member of the Z Special Unit during World War II. His biography is called Blood on Borneo. I understand that Jack Wong Sue had to overcome some discrimination to even join the Royal Australian Air Force; however, his fluency in the Malay and Chinese languages made him a perfect candidate for allied intelligence and jungle warfare. His elite unit conducted surveillance and sabotage and helped train around 6,000 Borneo residents in resistance, which laid the groundwork for the successful allied invasion of Borneo in 1945.

Many other Australian-Chinese have served in the armed forces, and their stories should be told and their sacrifices commemorated. The students in my electorate needs to hear about Mr Lee, who was the first Australian of Chinese background to join the RAAF; Roy Goone, who commanded the 83rd Squadron in 1943; the many, many Chinese-Australian women, including Phillis Anguey, who served as nurses; and the many more stories that will be unearthed. The memorial at the Sunnybank RSL will honour these and many other Chinese-Australians and ensure that we tell their stories for ever and ever.