Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to honour the life of a wonderful woman who hailed from Austria. Her links, and those of her husband, to my electorate of Farrer are well known locally but worth retelling here. At the age of 106, Gundula Holbrook passed peacefully on New Year's Eve in her home town of Steinfeld in Austria's south. Here in Australia her passing was mourned particularly by her namesake town.

Holbrook in southern New South Wales has a population of around 1,700 and is a key stop on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne. Those with a sense of curiosity often wonder why there is a 90-metre replica of an Oberon class submarine sitting in a playground area in the north of the town—400 kilometres from the nearest Australian seaport. If not for Mrs Holbrook, this unique, historic marker may never have come to be.

Gundula was the second wife of Commander Norman Douglas Holbrook, a British submariner and the first naval recipient of the Victoria Cross in World War I. His 1915 exploits in sinking an enemy ship after negotiating a treacherous mine-laden stretch of water in the straits off Gallipoli earned him a commendation but also the attention of the local folk back here, who were coincidentally canvassing a new name for their town at the time. Titled 'Germanton' after the settlers who made this part of the southern Riverina their home, heightened sensitivity around wartime deemed the town moniker unsuitable. Holbrook was chosen, and the British war hero was duly notified by a formal letter from the shire clerk.

While Commander Holbrook was no doubt honoured to have a remote Australian shearing and wheatbelt community named for his gallantry, it apparently never inspired him to visit until his new wife suggested it would be a nice gesture of appreciation to pop along and say hello, some 40 years after the bestowed honour. While Norman did warm to the community, it was Gundula who became the town's champion. In 1996, 20 years after Commander Holbrook's death, she was a special guest at the ceremony to erect the fin or tail of the recently decommissioned HMAS Otway. Noting that the fin was a little bit small to feature as a major tourist drawcard, she immediately wrote a cheque for $100,000 to help ship the entire vessel to a new home. The Otway is now the star attraction of the Holbrook Submarine Museum, located proudly and most prominently in Germanton Park in Holbrook, New South Wales.

Vale, Gundula. You will be forever fondly remembered in our part of Australia. And if anyone is ever travelling along the Hume Highway, it is a great place to stop and let the children have a run.