voluntary guides backgrounder number 92 … anzac parade - … · for a number of years i have...

VOLUNTARY GUIDES BACKGROUNDER Number 92 Issue # 2 February 2010

ANZAC PARADE

a sacred way

War memorials honour people, not war

PJH

ISSUE #1 ( February 2007)

Guidelines for National Memorials

The passages below are taken from the National Capital Authority’s guidelines to national

memorials, Guidelines to Commemorative Works in the National Capital.

Any proposal for a national memorial needs to meet the guidelines below in order to be referred to

the Canberra National Memorials Committee for consideration. This committee is a bi-partisan

parliamentary committee chaired by the Prime Minister.

{The members of the CNMC are: Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Government in the

Senate, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Secretary Department Of Transport And Regional

Services, Chief Executive National Capital Authority (ACT Government website January 2007)}

2.6 Assessment Criteria for Commemorative Subjects

To determine the appropriateness of proposed commemorative subjects (individuals, groups,

organisations, ideas or events) for development in the National Capital, a two-stage assessment

process exists. Both stages must be satisfied.

The stages employ:

Mandatory Criteria that determine if the subject can be considered for commemoration in the

National Capital; and Evaluation Criteria that determine if the subject has ‘national significance’

and should be commemorated in the National Capital.

Stage 1-Mandatory Criteria

! An individual will only be considered for commemoration at least ten years after his/her

death

! A group or organisation will only be considered for commemoration at least ten years after

its termination

! An idea or event will only be considered for commemoration at least ten years after its

conclusion

! A commemorative proposal must not duplicate the themes or subject matter of an existing

commemorative site

! Natural disasters will not normally be commemorated.

Stage 2-Evaluation Criteria

A person, group, organisation, idea or event, to be considered for commemoration in the National

Capital must:

! Have cultural significance for the nation-that is (as stated in The Burra Charter Revision, 1999),

‘aesthetic, historic, scientific or social value for past, present or future generations’ of

Australians;

! Closely reflect the evolving values, ideas and aspirations of the Australian community;

! Contribute to the education of all Australians by enhancing our sense of place and increasing an

understanding of cultural diversity;

! Exemplify Australia’s unique heritage.

If a commemorative work is supported by the National Capital Authority, according to the

Mandatory and Evaluation Criteria, this does not commit the Commonwealth to its implementation.

The final siting and design of the commemorative work will be subject to the relevant statutory

approvals and contingent on funding availability.

{Australian Government website media release 13.10.06}

ISSUE #1 (February 2007)

FOREWORD

ANZAC Parade is the Voie Sacrée in the Australian landscape.

The memorials along each roadway of the Parade record the major conflicts in which men and

women from Australia have fought and made the supreme sacrifice. Ultimately these monuments

lead to the Roll of Honour and the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier in the Australian War

Memorial.

The ANZAC Parade memorials provide a focus for Australians’ thoughts and reflections on war

and human suffering, particularly on ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day. Truly, it is a sacred

way.

For a number of years I have sought to understand the designers’ intent of each of the memorials

with limited success due to the fact that many of the documents on each of the memorials are

limited in scope. To overcome this perceived deficiency, I have generated this Backgrounder

utilising material from the National Capital Authority/War Memorials in Australia

(www.skp.com.au) websites and other material that I have collected over the years.

I have gone down this path to enhance the “linkage” of the Memorial’s Commemorative Area to the

sacred way of ANZAC Parade and hope that it will be of value to the Guides.

The Canberra National Memorials Committee has yet to consider the National Capital Authority

submission on the Australian Peacekeeping Memorial, due to be dedicated on 14 September 2008.

At this time its location in Canberra is not known. Enclosure # 2 is relevant.

Peter Hugonnet Voluntary Guide

February 2007


BACKGROUNDER # 92

ANZAC PARADE A SACRED WAY

CONTENTS

Foreword SECTION 1 A SACRED WAY SECTION 2 AUSTRALIA HELLENIC MEMORIAL SECTION 3 AUSTRALIAN ARMY NATIONAL MEMORIAL SECTION 4 AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL SECTION 5 AUSTRALIAN VIETNAM FORCES NATIONAL MEMORIAL SECTION 6 DESERT MOUNTED ÇORPS MEMORIAL SECTION 7 NEW ZEALAND MEMORIAL SECTION 8 RATS OF TOBRUK MEMORIAL SECTION 9 ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE MEMORIAL SECTION 10 AUSTRALIAN SERVICE NURSES MEMORIAL SECTION 11 ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY MEMORIAL SECTION 12 KEMAL ATA TURK MEMORIAL ENCLOSURES: #1: WAR MEMORIALS IN THE AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE. KEN INGLIS. WARTIME # 4 (1998) # 2: AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPING MEMORIAL PROJECT .APMP WEBSITE. # 3 : World War 1 and World War II Memorials # 4: Boer War Memorial

1 ISSUE #1 (February 2007)

Section 1

A sacred way

{Extracted with permission from Sacred Places.war memorials in the Australian landscape.

K.S.INGLIS 1998.ISBN 0522 85190 8}

For the fiftieth anniversary of Gallipoli the Menzies government authorised in 1965 an 'Anzac Parade' which ran down from the front of the Memorial towards the new Lake Burley Griffin: two roadways flanked by raised lawns and divided by red gravel. From the lawns rose Australian blue gums, and in boxes on the gravel grew New Zealand shrubs. For the planners of Canberra, Anzac Parade was a gesture towards Walter Burley Griffin's vision, marking his 'land axis' between Mount Ainslie and Capital Hill. At the southern end, near the lake, they put up two 'portal buildings' intended to emphasize the axis and to frame the Memorial, and at the northern end, in front of the Memorial they created an esplanade with a Stone of Remembrance similar to those in War Graves cemeteries. This area made a focal point for the major ceremonies of Anzac and Remembrance Days. Anzac Day dawn services and other smaller gatherings were still accommodated inside, in the forecourt. In the lawns alongside each roadway, ten gravel niches awaited public sculpture to transform the parade into Canberra's modest equivalent of the Mall in Washington - or, to invoke classical antiquity as the planners did, a 'sacred way' such as had joined Athens to Eleusis, flanked by sculptures commemorating heroes, gods and civic events. Here were sites in search of monuments. The niches were up for bids, and by 1990 eight of the ten were filled by a miscellany of sculptures, each the result of lobbying from a particular group which convinced the federal government, advised by planners, that they had a right to be represented along the sacred way. First came survivors of the Desert Mounted Corps, calling for a replica of Web Gilbert's memorial to their dead Australian and New Zealand comrades at Port Said, smashed beyond repair in December 1956. The remnants were shipped to Australia, where Raymond Ewers, commissioned by the federal government, reconstructed the piece in plaster and had it sent to Italy for casting in bronze. Where should it now be re-erected? In Albany, Western Australia, said the town's RSL sub-branch, supported by the League at large; high above King George Sound, where the convoy carrying the first contingent of Australians and New Zealanders to war had assembled before sailing to Egypt in 1914. In, Canberra, said surviving members of the Corps, where people from all over Australia and beyond could see it. The decision lay with Gordon Freeth, Minister for the Interior, who happened also to have Albany in, his electorate. He chose Albany, and Sir Robert Menzies unveiled the, re-created memorial there in 1964. Old Light Horsemen kept on battling for a site in Canberra, and a new Minister for the Interior, Doug Anthony, announced that another replica of 'one of the finest pieces of sculpture in Australia' would be erected, paid for by the National ,Capital Development Commission, in a niche on Anzac Parade, 'where a great mass of the Australian people can see it.’ Another prime minister, John Gorton, unveiled Canberra’s version in 1968. Thus repatriated, the monument had acquired a patina of meaning , standing both for Anzac co-operation in war and for the end of empire. Opposite the Anzac troopers the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled in 1983 a second tribute to Australians at war in the Middle East, this during World War II, and in response to pressure from another group survivors, the Rats of Tobruk, for whom the memorial was named. The Rats of Tobruk Memorial was a replica of a rough stepped pillar erected during the siege in 1941. Canberra's version incorporated a stone retrieved from the original structure which had been inscribed 'This hallowed ground for here lie those who died for their country'. The Rats of Tobruk Association supplied a new inscription, which narrated the campaign and ended: 'By their lack of


adherence to orthodox strategy, the defenders of Tobruk confirmed and enhanced the traditional image the Australian soldier and the reputation for heroism won by their fathers on Gallipoli in 1915'. Here was a classic expression of the legend connecting the diggers of two wars, the sons as torch-bearers, and the monument was embellished by a bronze representation of an eternal flame. Three niches were filled on the initiative of the current armed services, with sculpture expressing both the planners' hunger for monuments and a new sense of public relations in the defence force. Each was the result of a competition held by the National Capital Development Commission. The Royal Australian Air Force Memorial, lnge King's abstract composition of three vertical stainless steel shafts evoking aircraft wings, was unveiled in 1973, amid complaints from ex-airmen with more conservative tastes than the planners. The critics helped to ensure that the army and the navy would be given more realistic homage. The National Memorial to the Royal Australian Navy which the Queen unveiled in 1986 was a bronze fountain by Ante Dabro, clearly representing the sea and incorporating geometric shapes for ships and recognizably human sailors. The National Memorial to the Australian Army by Joan Walsh-Smith (1989) had at its centre two huge bronze diggers fit for a recruiting poster or a department store window. At the head of Anzac Parade, just across the road from the War Memorial, were two complexes startlingly different in style and provenance from all the others. On the west side, designed by the architect Ken Woolley and unveiled in 1988, the Australian Hellenic Memorial: broken Doric column embossed with Greek cross and twisted fragment of steel, on a mosaic pavement map of Greece. Facing it from the east since 1985, the Ataturk Memorial Garden, on its wall a portrait of Kemal Ataturk, designed by staff of the National Capital Development Commission. Both commemorate Australians and others dead in war. On the one side, all who died in the Greek campaign of 1941, including Greeks but not Germans or Italians. On the other, both invaders and defenders of Gallipoli, mourned in words Ataturk himself had spoken to the pilgrims of 1934 and now inscribed on a tablet, assuring grieving mothers that their sons have become Turkey's sons. These two monuments were affirmations of ethnic identity as well as gestures to Australia's military past. Most of the money for the one putting Greece on the map was collected from among Greek-born Australians. The Turkish memorial, paid for by the federal government, was one item in a round of sentimental diplomacy celebrating in 1985 the seventieth anniversary of what was now perceived to be the common ordeal at Gallipoli. On Turkish maps Ariburnu became officially Anzac Cove, the part of Lake Burley Griffin below Anzac Parade became Gallipoli Reach, and the mouth of King George Sound at Albany, Western Australia, Ataturk Entrance. Some sort of Gallipoli memorial had been proposed for Anzac Parade in 1984 by the very old men of the Gallipoli Legion of Anzacs, but the monument actually constructed owed more to intervention by the prime minister, Bob Hawke, after the Turkish ambassador had hinted to him that unless the maker of modern Turkey was given explicit honour on Anzac Parade, it might not be possible after all to rename Ariburnu. Hawke was moved also by the presence of many Turks in his own Melbourne suburban electorate, just as a concern for ethnic votes contributed to his enthusiasm for the Australian Hellenic Memorial. When planners demurred at both projects on the ground that Anzac Parade was supposed to be reserved for Australian memorials, Hawke responded with the casuistry that the Turkish and Hellenic memorials were not really in Anzac Parade but at its intersection with Fairbairn Avenue. Greece and Turkey had a tradition of mutual enmity, and to let in only one would have been an affront to the other. The RSL, though wary of non-British migration, had long made exceptions of Greeks and Turks. The League was involved in the making of the Australian Hellenic Memorial and approved the one to Ataturk. RSL leaders were actually happier about these two monuments than about the thoroughly Australian tribute to the Rats of Tobruk; for some years the League went unrepresented in commemorative services at that niche as a reproach to the Rats for affirming an


identity separate from other returned men. If American visitors were surprised to find their country unrepresented along an avenue which gave honour to Greeks and Turks, they could be shown not far way a monument to co-operation in World War II. The Australian-American Memorial, the most spectacular of numerous tributes to the Americans' wartime presence, was initiated by the mainly commercial American-Australian Association and carried through by the Menzies government when an appeal failed to raise all the money needed. Paul Beadle's eagle and sphere rest high on Richard Ure's aluminium-sheathed shaft. The Queen unveiled in 1954 a plaque inscribed 'in grateful remembrance of the vital help given by the United States of America during the war in the Pacific, 1941-1945'. Her High Commissioner disliked the words, which he read as designed to work up enthusiasm for the USA by convincing Australians that the Americans had saved them. Certainly the monument could be read as a marker of transferred dependence, a sealing of the geopolitical shift proclaimed by the new acronym ANZUS which named a pact between the Anzac partners and the USA in 1951. Americans might also see the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial as in some sense belonging to them as well as to Australians. This is the most impressive monument along the Parade, midway on the western side, commemorating a war against the most recent and least easily interpreted of enemies. The word 'VIETNAM', in large black cutout letters, proclaims its importance. The Memorial was dedicated with high ceremony on 3 October 1992, anniversary of the Welcome Home march of veterans through Sydney in 1987. It was after this event that Peter Poulton and a few other veterans had begun to campaign for a memorial which would be their equivalent of the one inaugurated at Washington in 1982. There were differences. Where the American designer had to display the names of the dead-some sixty thousand Canberra's memorial was to have the names of the 504 Australian dead incorporated invisibly, and to declare itself not only for them but 'FOR ALL WHO SERVED, SUFFERED, AND DIED'. Where

The Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial, Anzac Parade, Canberra, 7992:Jean Weiner's

drawing of inauguration day (in Guy Freeland, Canberra Cosmos, Leichhardt 7995, p. 99) dwells

on the macabre emblem of the Vietnam Veterans of Australia Motor Cycle Club.


the Washington memorial was to 'make no political statement about the war', Canberra's was to express 'the link between the Australian Vietnam Forces and the original ANZAC Force', and also to represent 'the controversy at home'. In the event it did the former and hardly began to do the latter. The Americans imposed almost no conditions, and ended up with a long, low, black wall, tapering at the ends the ground. Conservatives who did not like this outcome then promoters add a conventional statue of three soldiers. The committee prescribed conditions and chose assessors design acceptable to all the parties involved. Where the American enterprise was wholly voluntary, Australia's was the product of public as private resources: the Hawke government put in $250 000 $800 000 estimated as necessary in 1989, and the National Planning Authority administered both the competition for a the construction of the winner. Where the Americans named their project simply the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, Canberra's was Australian National and military, named for the Forces. There was one more significant difference. The Australian memorial was inaugurated much later. 1982 was the tenth year after foreign armies went home, 1992 the twentieth-an interval a long as between the end of the first great war and the beginning second. The war's long passage towards history helped the makers find more easily a rhetoric connecting Vietnam with the Anzac tradition. Certainly Anzac Parade provided a suitable site for that connexion. The allotted niche placed the memorial tributes to the horsemen of World War I and to the army of all wars, opposite the monument to the Rats of Tobruk. The ceremonies inauguration drew powerfully on the rituals of Anzac Day: dawn ser dedication, march. The speakers dwelt also on one quality not until necessary in statements about Australian wars: healing. At the dedication Peter Poulton said quietly: 'This is the final healing process can now join together as one nation'. More than half of the surviving veterans had made the journey to Canberra. Most marched in their units, as on Anzac Day. Bringing up the rear, however, members of Vietnam Veterans of Australia Motor Cycle Club thundered slowly down Anzac Parade in leather jackets that were themselves war memorials, created for their own bodies as they had waited for more conventional commemoration and bearing the club's macabre emblem of digger hat on grinning skull, inscribed 'In memory of all Australians who lost their lives in Vietnam 1962-1973 and since'. The Memorial was the joint work of the architect Peter Tonkin and the sculptor Ken Unsworth. Up a ramp, over a moat, you approach a large etched reproduction of a photograph from the war, showing armed soldiers waiting to be lifted out by helicopters. This image- Vietnam's closest thing to Simpson and the donkey-covers one of three walls in what becomes, as you enter, a kind of open-air temple or shrine made three concrete slabs, each of which twists as it rises above you. The powerful form suggests stress, even anguish. A second slab is blank, and rises behind an altar-like stone set on one side of the floor. The third slab is covered with quotations about the war, a device intended simultaneously to convey information and to invite diverse responses. When the makers came to choose statements, however, they were better at expressing continuities with Anzac than at signalling conflict. You glimpse controversy only in a soldier's statement that he doesn't seem to have many friends since he came home, and 'OUR FAMILY FOUND ITSELF DIVIDED OVER VIETNAM'. How? Why? A posterity depending on this wall of words will never know. High overhead is suspended a ring of black granite segments one of which, you mayor may not notice, is marked by a cross. Here, mysteriously, are 'entombed' the names of 504 dead, laser-written on stainless steel and locked into the granite container at a ceremony in the old Parliament House attended by their next-of-kin. In early planning the names were actually to be enclosed in the altar, which was to stand at the centre of the floor. Then the designers put the names up in the halo and moved the altar to one side, calling it now just a memorial stone. We are discouraged from sensing any similarity between this space and the interior of a church, and we are to look up at the halo. Why are the names not visible (say on one of the walls)? The makers gave no clear answer.


Possibly they were deterred by the known difficulty of getting the list exactly right: even the hidden roll of honour was opened up expensively after the inauguration to insert names belatedly deemed eligible. Perhaps they did not want to overwhelm us with the feeling that we were in the presence of a tribute to the dead instead of, as planned, a declaration on behalf of the survivors as well. The motto of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, militants who had contributed largely to the project, is 'HONOUR THE DEAD, BUT FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING'. The only men whose names are to be seen at the site of the Memorial are the six-just six, so confined was the Australians' theatre of war- Missing in Action. The names of the known dead, to be sure , can be read a few minutes walk away, on the Roll of Honour in the cloisters of the Australian War Memorial; and some who attended the ceremony of 3 October 1992 made reverent rubbings from the Vietnam tablets. By encouraging bereaved people to go from the one memorial to the other, the absence of names may help to connect Vietnam with Kokoda and Gallipoli. The two last niches were due to be occupied by the year 2000. After half a century a National Korean War Memorial would honour Australians who served in that country, and an Australian Service Nurses National Memorial was planned for the centenary of Australian military nursing in 1999. The first project, initiated by associated veterans of the Korean war, went smoothly and quietly, beginning with the placing of boulders, gifts of the South Korean government, taken from a place named Kapyong and installed on the forty-fifth anniversary of Australians fighting there, the eve of Anzac Day 1996. Of the seventeen thousand men who had served in Korea, some two thousand survivors made their way to Canberra for the ceremony. The second project encountered turbulence when the RSL argued, as some people in Brisbane had done in 1992, that nurses should not be commemorated ahead of other women who had served in war. The initiators in Canberra offered no compromise such as had seen emblems of three women attached to the statue in Brisbane. They deferred to the organization which was finding most of the money, the Royal College of Nursing Australia, whose president conducted a service to dedicate the site, the last of Anzac Parade's ten niches, on Saturday 15 February 1997, one day before the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day nurses were massacred at Banka Island. Along the sacred way from Athens to Eleusis, Atticans moved on foot. For most visitors to Canberra the monuments of Anzac Parade are blurred objects glimpsed at sixty kilometres an hour. Walkers, either on their own or in Anzac Heritage groups, have to watch out for traffic. Pilgrims gather on special days. More than five hundred Rats and their families attended a service at the Tobruk memorial on 17 April 1991 for the fiftieth anniversary of the siege, and nearly as many assembled at the equestrian memorial on 31 October 1992-now designated as Beersheba Day-to lay a plaque marking the victorious Australian charge into that town. A body known as the Friends of the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial committed itself to making the anniversary of its dedication, 3 October, a day for services of remembrance, and pressed for official recognition of the date as Vietnam Veterans' Day. The Memorial also became site for commemoration of a battle at Long Tan in which a company of Australian infantry killed 245 Vietnamese for the loss of eighteen men. Long Tan was being promoted by Defence Force publicists as a place of Anzac memory fit to be remembered alongside Gallipoli and Beersheba, Tobruk and Kokoda, and the thirtieth anniversary of the battle was observed with solemnity at the Vietnam Memorial on 18 August 1996. Friends and relatives read out the names of all dead men, following a practice introduced at the memorial in Washington. Many cars whizzed by, and some were parked along Anzac Parade. To one participant that was a kind of sacrilege. 'The red gravel in Anzac Parade', he wrote to the Canberra Times, 'is a stark reminder of the blood they shed, so let's keep any kind of pollution away from their memory'. Unwanted motor vehicles are kept well away on the morning of 25 April, when hundreds of returned service people more or less in step with military bands march up Anzac Parade to the


service around the Stone of Remembrance and down again later, turning eyes right and eyes left as they pass the niches.

ISSUE #1(February 2007)

Section 2

Australian-Hellenic Memorial

On 6 April 1941 the 6th Australian Division joined an Allied force resisting German advancement

in mainland Greece. The troops, largely from Australia and New Zealand, that formed the only

ANZAC Corps in World War II, fought with skill and determination but were vastly outnumbered

on the ground. Germany also enjoyed total domination in the air. the campaign was, from start to

finish, a fighting withdrawal.

Many evacuated Australians were taken to Crete where, with British, New Zealand and Greek

troops, they fought an ill-fated campaign against highly trained German troops. More than 5000

Australians were taken prisoner of war in both campaigns. The Australian Hellenic Memorial

commemorates those who died in these campaigns.

The Memorial dedicated on 21 May 1988 was designed by Ancher, Mortlock and Woolley Pty Ltd.

The marble memorial recalls the shape of an amphitheatre amidst an olive grove and the formal

cypresses stand evidence for a sacred place. The doric column symbolises the birth of civilisation.

This column is also embossed with the cross of the Greek Orthodox Church, representing a soldier's

grave. The column stands on a mosaic pavement, designed by Mary Hall, which represents the

rugged coastline and terrain of the battlefields. The damaged steel fragment reflects the futility and

destruction of war.


Section 3

Australian Army National Memorial

The Australian Amy National Memorial dedicated on 1 November 1989 incorporates two larger

than life bronze soldier figures on an elevated base which is rugged and stepped to symbolise the

Army's relationship with the Australian continent. The figures stand on a podium which is paved in

the radiating pattern of the Army's rising sun insignia. Seven cylindrical pillars, representing the

major campaigns, sit in a reflecting pond symbolising the journeys across water which characterised

all the campaigns. A series of 36 panels on a curving wall behind the figures incorporate

descriptive text outlining the major events in the history of the Army.

The orientation of the Army insignia is towards the east, the direction which the two soldiers face.

In this way a reference is made to the Rising Sun and the dawning of new days.

Sculptor Joan Walsh Smith, the memorial's designer, described her intention to "create a space, a

place of ceremony, pageantry and contemplation with its focus of attention, that basic component of

the Australian Army, ...the Digger".


Plaques on curving wall

SUDAN1885

NEW SOUTH WALES SENT A SMALL

VOLUNTEER FORCE OF INFANTRY AND

ARTILLERY TO SUAKIN TO HELP THE

BRITISH ARMY IN THE SUDAN. IT WAS

THE FIRST BRITISH COLONY TO SEND

TROOPS TO THE AID OF THE MOTHER

COUNTRY. SUAKIN 1885 WAS THE FIRST

BATTLE HONOUR AWARDED TO AN

AUSTRALIAN UNIT.

SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902

THE BOER REPUBLICS INVADED CAPE

COLONY AND NATAL IN 1899 AND ALL

AUSTRALIAN COLONIES DESPATCHED

VOLUNTEER COMPANIES TO SOUTH

AFRICA WHERE THEY WERE ATTACHED

TO BRITISH REGIMENTS. FIGHTING

CHIEFLY AS MOUNTED INFANTRY, THEY

WON RENOWN FOR THEIR SKILL AND

ABILITY TO SURVIVE AND FIND THEIR

WAY IN TRACKLESS COUNTRY GALLIPOLI 1915

THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND

ARMY CORPS LANDED ON GALLIPOLI

ON 25TH APRIL AS PART OF AN ALLIED

FORCE TO OPEN THE WAY TO THE

DARDANELLES FOR THE FLEET.

THEY HELD THEIR POSITIONS AGAINST

INTENSE OPPOSITION UNTIL FORCED TO

WITHDRAW IN DECEMBER. THEIR

HEROISM, DEDICATION AND

SACRIFICE WERE THE GENESIS OF THE

ANZAC TRADITION.

SINAI AND PALESTINE 1916-1918

THE AUSTRALIAN LIGHT HORSE BRIGADES,

ORGANISED IN TWO MOUNTED DIVISIONS

WHICH INCLUDED NEW ZEALAND AND

BRITISH TROOPS, PARTICIPATED IN THIS

CAMPAIGN WHICH FORCED THE TURKS

TO SEEK AN ARMISTICE IN OCTOBER 1918

THEY FOUGHT THEIR WAY FROM THE

SUEZ CANAL TO NORTHERN SYRIA AND

WON VICTORIES AT ROMANI, MAGDABHA,

RAFAH, BEERSHEBA AND MEGIDDO.


FRANCE AND BELGIUM 1916-1918

FIVE AUSTRALIAN DIVISIONS WON

RENOWN FOR THEIR COURAGE AND SKILL

IN MANY BATTLES INCLUDING POZIERES,

BULLECOURT, MESSINES,YPRES

AND VILLIERS-BRETONNEUX.

THE FIVE DIVISIONS WERE UNITED

AS THE AUSTRALIAN CORPS IN

DECEMBER, 1917, AND PLAYED A MAJOR

PART IN THE DEFEAT OF THE

GERMAN ARMY.

MIDDLE EAST 1940-1942

IN 1941 WITH BRITISH SUPPORT,

THE 6TH DIVISION DROVE THE ITALIANS

FROM CURENAICA AND THE 9TH DIVISION

HELD TOBRUK AGAINST A COUNTER-

OFFENSIVE BY GERMAN AND ITALIAN

FORCES. AT THE SAME TIME, THE

7TH DIVISION PARTICIPATED IN THE

DEFEAT OF THE VICHY FRENCH IN SYRIA.

IN 1942, THE 9TH DIVISION WON VITAL

GROUND AT EL ALAMEIN

GREECE AND CRETE 1941

AUSTRALIAN AND EMPIRE FORCES WERE

DESPATCHED TO GREECE TO MEET THE

GERMAN INVASION. HEAVILY

OUTNUMBERED AND AFTER STUBBORN

RESISTANCE THEY CONDUCTED A

FIGHTING WITHDRAWAL AND WERE

EVACUATED TO CRETE AND EGYPT. THE

SURVIVORS IN CRETE FACED AN

INVASION BY AIRBORNE FORCES AND

INFLICTED HEAVY CASUALTIES BEFORE

BEING WITHDRAWN.

MALAYA - SINGAPORE 1941-1942

WHEN THE JAPANESE ATTACKED MALAYA

IN DECEMBER, 1941, THEY WERE OPPOSED

BY EMPIRE FORCES WHICH INCLUDED

THE 8TH DIVISION. THE JAPANESE

ISOLATED THESE FORCES AND PUSHED

THEM BACK INTO SINGAPORE.

WHERE THEY BECAME PRISONERS.

MANY AUSTRALIANS WERE TO DIE IN

PRISON CAMPS AND ON THE BURMA -

THAILAND RAILWAY.


SOUTH - WEST PACIFIC 1942-1945

AUSTRALIAN AND U.S. FORCES WERE

ENGAGED IN ALMOST CONTINUOUS

ACTION IN NEW GUINEA AND

THE NEARBY ISLANDS. FRO KOKODA

AND MILNE BAY TO BUNA, GONA, LAE,

FINSCHAPEN, SATTLEBERG AND

WEWAK AND ON NEW BRITAIN AND

BOUGANVILLE. THE JAPANESE FORCES

WERE DEFEATED AFTER HEAVY

FIGHTING. IN 1945, THE OILFIELDS OF

BORNEO WERE REGAINED AFTER

ASSAULT LANDINGS BY AUSTRALIAN TROOPS.

KOREA 1950-1954 AUSTRALIAN TROOPS SERVED AS PART

OF THE UNITED NATIONS FORCE WHICH

OPPOSED THE INVASION OF SOUTH

KOREA BY NORTH KOREA AND CHINA.

THEY PARTICIPATED IN MANY ACTIONS

INCLUDING THE BATTLES OF KAPYONG

AND MARYANG SAN. THEY WON

RECOGNITION FOR AGGRESSIVE

PATROLLING AGAINST THE ENEMY'S

STATIC DEFENCES.

MALAYA 1950-1960, MALAYSIA 1964-1966

AUSTRALIAN UNITS FOUGHT WITH OTHER

COMMONWEALTH FORCES DURING

THE MALAYSIAN EMERGENCY

AGAINST TERRORISTS ATTEMPTING TO

OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT OF

MALAYA AND DURING INDONESIAN

CONFRONTATION AGAINST THE NEWLY

FORMED FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA.

THEIR COURAGE AND ENDURANCE IN

THESE JUNGLE CONFLICTS WERE

COMPLEMENTED BY SKILLS AND

TECHNIQUES LEARNED DURING THE

SECOND WORLD WAR.

SOUTH VIETNAM 1962-1972

AUSTRALIAN TROOPS SERVED IN THE

AUSTRALIAN ARMY TRAINING TEAM WHICH

HELPED TRAIN THE ARMY OF SOUTH

VIETNAM AND ALSO WITH THE TASK FORCE

WHICH CONDUCTED OPERATIONS AGAINST

VIET CONG AND NORTH VIETNAMESE

ARMY FORMATIONS. THEIR

REPUTATION WAS ESTABLISHED

IN MANY ACTIONS INCLUDING

LONG TAN AND THE ENEMY TET

OFFENSIVE. THIS WAS AUSTRALIA'S

LONGEST CONFLICT.


Section 4

Australian National Korean War Memorial

A memorial in memory of those Australians who served and those who died in the Korean War was unveiled on 18 April 2000. The site had previously been dedicated on 24 April 1996, coinciding with the 45th anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong.

The preferred design was submitted by a Sydney-based team led by sculptor and artist Les Kossatz, sculptor Augustine Dall'ava, architect Professor Sand Helsel and draughtsman David Bullpit and has a character reminiscent of the 1950's period when the Korean War took place. The design incorporates an inner contemplative space behind a monumental wall with images and text to assist visitors to gain a greater understanding of the war and Australia's role in it. This inner chamber contains one of five boulders which were a gift to the Australian people from the people and Government of the Republic of Korea. This boulder is used for wreath laying and as a focal point for ceremonies. A dome overhead symbolises the UN goal of world peace. The other four boulders are in the court in front of the monument and there is also a field of stainless steel poles to symbolise the great loss of those Australians who died in the conflict. Three life-size cast aluminium figures of a soldier, sailor and an airman stand near a 12m obelisk honouring those missing in action. Inscriptions on the exterior wall of the central structure record the 21 member countries of the United Nations that took part in the conflict. The monochromatic tones of white, silver and grey used throughout the memorial refer to the harsh climatic conditions endured in Korea and the granite paving and crushed aggregate refer to that country's geology and culture.


The boulders come from the battlefield of Kapyong which was the scene of a significant engagement involving troops of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment on 23 and 24 April, 1951. The Australians overcame superior numbers and were later awarded a US Presidential Unit Citation for heroism beyond the call of duty.

The memorial cost $1.62 million of which $700,000 was funded by the Australian Government and $200,000 by the South Korean Government. The remainder was raised by public subscription.


AUSTRALIA AND THE KOREAN WAR

The Korean War was the first occasion that members of the United Nations acted collectively to repel aggression. Australian units served in combat from 1950 to 1953 and continued in Korea from the armistice to 1957 as part of the United Nations Command to preserve the independence of the Republic of Korea. . From September 1950, and following the amphibious landing at Inchon and the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the multinational force cleared South Korea and advanced into North Korea towards the border with China. In November 1950 after the Chinese entry to the war, the UN ground forces faced Chinese offences which forced them to retreat in appalling winter conditions to positions south of the 38th parallel. . With a continuous front from sea to sea, the dramatic advances and withdrawals of the first six

months came to an end. After early 1951 offensives and counter offensives the war entered a phase

of contesting heavily defended emplacements along the front which eventually became the cease fire line. Despite the first initiatives in 1951 to end the war it dragged on until 27 July 1953 when an armistice was signed. . From 29 June 1950 to 27 July 1953, some 17000 Australian sailors, soldiers and airmen served in the Korean War. Australian casualties were 339 killed, 1216 wounded and 29 prisoners of war. Twenty other countries contributed combat and medical units to the United Nations command in Korea. . Australian sailors, soldiers and airmen won world respect for their courage, endurance and combat skills. The service of a small group of Australians in the years 1950 to 1953, and the sacrifice of those who did not return are not forgotten.

THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

Royal Australian Navy ships were committed to the Korean War on 29 June 1950, just four days after war began. Freezing weather conditions tested men and equipment beyond the normal hazards of high seas, storms, typhoons, extreme tidal conditions and uncharted mud flats. Five members of the RAN died on active service in the Korean War. Destroyers and frigates were employed in patrolling, engaging shore batteries, gun-fire support, carrier screening, support for island operations and evacuation cover in a threat environment from mining, air attack and counter bombardment. Notable actions were the landing at Inchon (January 1951) and the Han Estuary bombardment. HMA Ships SHOALHAVEN, BATAAN, WARRAMUNGA, MURCHISON, ANZAC, TOBRUK, CONDAMINE and CULGOA were deployed during 1950-1953. HMAS SYDNEY and its Fleet Air Arm squadrons attacked enemy supply lines and supported allied forces from October, 1951 to January 1952. The maritime supremacy of the United Nations Command was a factor in the outcome of the war.


THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY

The Third Battalion (3 RAR) commenced operations in early October 1950 and remained in Korea throughout the war. Two other Australian battalions (1 RAR and 2 RAR) served on rotation in 1952-53. Many soldiers had previous active service and became part of the new Australian Regular Army while others enlisted in 'K Force', especially raised for the war. army nurses, the Salvation Army and members of the Red Cross served in Japan and Korea. South Korean personnel (KATCOMs) frequently augmented and served with Australians. 3 RAR fought numerous actions in the 'mobile phase' months of the war when close hand-to-hand combat was common. Battles in North Korea, known as the 'stepping stones', were fought at Sariwon, Yongu, Pakchon and Chonhju. Later 3 RAR fought major battles at Kapyong and Maryang San. The last 20 months of the war, the 'static phase', involved raids against deeply entrenched Chinese positions and nightly fighting patrols to dominate no-man's-land. Battles in the period included 1RAR's against Hill 227 and Operation FAUNA in 1952 and the defensive battle by 2 RAR on the Hook in July 1953. As well as an aggressive enemy all units had to combat the intense Korean winter cold. Army casualties were heavy, with 293 killed, 1,210 wounded and 24 prisoners of war. Of the numerous battle honours won by the RAR in Korea, three major honours are now emblazonedon Regimental Colours: "Korea" 1950-1953 (1 RAR, 2 RAR, 3 RAR),"Kapyong" April 1951 (3 RAR),"Maryang San" October 1051 (3 RAR)

.

THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE

77 Squadron entered the Korean War during the first week of the North Korean aggression and remained in action for the entire war as part of the US 5th Air Force. . Airpower was critical in defeating the initial North Korean offensive and the Australian squadron earned the highest reputation in giving close air support to ground forces. The squadron was re-equipped with Meteor jet fighters in July 1951 but this aircraft proved unsuited toaerial combat against the Soviet supplied MiG 15 and subsequently the Australian squadron reverted to the ground attack role where it continued its fine record. Notwithstanding three MiGs were destroyed in air-to-air combat. Climatic extremes, in particular the winter conditions in North Korea, challenged both air and ground crews.

In all there were 41 fatal casualties from all causes and seven prisoners of war. Royal Australian Air force pilots made a vital contribution to the squadron and five of them were killed. Dakota transports from 86 Wing provided airlift support for all British Commonwealth Forces in Korea and flew some 12,000 sick and wounded from the war zone in medical evacuation flights. In this role the contribution by the RAAF Nursing Service proved invaluable.


Section 5

Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial

The memorial remembers those who suffered and died in the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1973. The campaign for a Vietnam memorial dates from the 'Welcome Home Parade' held in Sydney on 3 October 1987 and dedication took place exactly five years later.

It is the joint work of architect Peter Tonkin and sculptor Ken Unsworth and responds to the design competition requirements to express 'the link between the Australian Vietnam Forces and the original ANZAC Force' and also to represent 'the controversy at home'. The external design was limited by ceremonial and parade considerations and by other memorials along Anzac Parade. The designers wanted to incorporate the four elements of earth, wind, water and fire. The domed shape of the internal floor represents the earth and the whole structure is open to the wind. A moat defines an island across the water and removed from the outside world. Unfortunately, cost restraints and the fire risk meant a permanent flame wasn't permitted so fire is represented by the sunlight across the face of the memorial.

The exterior is constructed of three cast-in-situ prestressed concrete forms or stelae, which project 9.5 metres above the base podium. ('stelae' is Greek for 'headstones'.) Each stele is tapered and inclined to the centre of the memorial. In the original design the stelae had flat surfaces but the designers decided that twisting them would invoke a feeling of movement and give them light and shadow. They are tapered and inclined to the centre, symbolising commemoration and contemplation. Suspended from the stelae and forming the centrepiece of the memorial is a granite ring or halo symbolising the spirits of the dead being lifted from the earth. Sealed within one of the stones of the ring is a scroll bearing the names of the 508 Australians who died in the conflict.


Note by Ed: The AWM Encyclopedia under "casualties" indicates that 520 were killed in Vietnam

and almost 2400 wounded; the official History of the Vietnam War ,On the Offensive at Annex F

gives the respective figures as 500 and 3129. In this matter it is understood that:

-the Official History figure of 500 is the total number of service personnel who actually died during

the VietnamWar.

- the AWM Roll of Honour and the Vietnam Forces National Memorial have the number killed at 520

which includes those who died of war-related causes after the cessation of hostilities by Australian

military forces in January 1973.

- in addition to the Official History figure of 500 killed there were seven civilians killed. Four

journalists, two female welfare workers and an entertainer who died in Vietnam.

-it is not known how the variation in wounded figures was determined.

As usual Guides should be wary of quoting specific casualty figures for any conflict snf if in doubt

use the AWM figures.

(The foregoing text was published in the Guide Post in September 2006.)


On the inner face of the western stele is etched a larger than life representation of members of the 7th Royal Australian Regiment being airlifted by U.S. helicopters from the fishing village of Lang Phuoc Hai to return to Nui Dat. It is a blow-up of an Army public relations photo taken by Sgt. Mike Coleridge and preserves a typical real life image of the conflict. The image was engraved in situ on 400 pieces of variable sized, triangular South Australian Imperial Black granite. Eighty-one one metre photographs were stuck on top of two layers of sandblasting tape and, in a very delicate operation, an engraver's tool was used to cut through the photographs and two layers of tape without touching the stone. The exposed stone was sandblasted to a depth of 1 mm to create the grey effect and the tape was then removed, leaving behind the image.

26 August 1967 : Members of 5 Platoon, B Company, 7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR), just north of the village of Phuoc Hai, beside the road leading to Dat Do. United States Army Iroquois helicopters are landing to take them back to Nui Dat after completion of Operation Ulmarra, the cordon and search by 7RAR of the village of Phuoc Hai. Operation Ulmarra was part of Operation Atherton, conducted by 2RAR /NZ (Anzac) (The Anzac Battalion comprising 2nd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment and a component from the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand infantry regiment) and 7RAR. Left to right: private (Pte) Peter Capp (kneeling); Pte Bob Fennell (crouching, facing camera); corporal Bob Darcy (left of Fennell); Pte Neal Hasted (centre front); Pte Ian Jury (centre, back, holding rifle); Pte Colin Barnett (front, right); Lance Corporal Stan Whitford (left of Barnett); helicopter marker at right is Pte John Raymond Gould. The United States Army Iroquois UH-1D helicopter is operated by 2 Platoon, 162nd Assault Helicopter Company, 11th Combat Aviation Battalion


The northern stele has fixed to it a series of quotations in stainless steel lettering. The designers originally suggested half a dozen quotations which they thought would add to the interior and lessen the impact of blank walls. The committee agreed with the idea but wanted more than six so they called for suggestions from veterans and from the many submissions selected 34 which preserve the language and slang of the war. No attribution for the inscriptions is provided on the wall as the assessors felt that this best served the sense of the consistent and equal value to be placed upon each quotation. Each letter is made of 3mm gauge stainless steel, 65mm high using a Futura typeface.

Note by Ed: See Enclosure #1: Quotations from the Wall of Words

The inner wall of the southern stele is left as plain unadorned concrete and functions as a site of personal contemplation, separate but not divorced from the specific memories recalled by the other walls. In front of this wall and off centre of the entire internal space is the 'Memorial Stone' - a monolith of black granite, which functions in part as an altar, in part as the earthbound component of the contemplative inspirational function.

The inner space or podium is tiled in black granite and is bounded by a moat.

To the north there is a small forecourt area covered in gravel, to the rear of which is a wide flight of stairs leading to the exterior of the northern stele, and beyond that to an entrance ramp at the northwestern edge of the central structure. Looking to the south there is a larger forecourt area also surfaced in gravel. At the southern edge of this forecourt there are three 9-metre flagpoles. At the rear or western edge there is a retaining wall with a low shelf. This is an area designated for the laying of wreaths. Surmounting this low wall are large steel letters spelling VIETNAM. Further to the south is a landscaped turf ramp, also leading from street level to the level of the plinth and to the rear south-western ramp.

In the landscaped turf area surrounding the central building there are three concrete memorial 'seats' At each end of these memorials is the name of one of the six Australians recorded as Missing In Action.

The memorial was dedicated on 3 October 1992 and re-dedicated 10 years later on 5 October 2002.

Enclosures:

# 1: Quotations from the Wall of Words at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

# 2: Dawn Service address by Brigadier Colin Khan DSO at the dedication of the Viretnam Memorial 3 October 1992 (AWM Journal #22 April 10993)

# 3 : Minister of Veteran’s Affairs Address on the occasion of the Rededication of the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial


ENCLOSURE #1 TO SECTION 5

Quotations From The Wall Of Words

At The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

In Canberra, Australia

{Reference: Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia website Jan 2007}

[Many readers have had difficulty in deciphering these often cryptic phrases, so a 'normal language' explanation of each quote has been included, courtesy of the late Brigadier Alf Garland]

THE RAAF DUST-OFF PILOTS HAD NO LIGHT AND SHOWED GREAT SKILL IN

COMING DOWN. [The Royal Australian Air Force medical evacuation helicopter pilots had to do without landing zone lights, which put their flying skills to great test during night extractions.]

SUNRAY WAS DIRECTING THE LIGHT FIRE TEAM - BUSHRANGERS, FROM HIS

POSSUM. [The Commanding Officer, radio call-sign 'Sunray', was directing the aerial fire support from the armed helicopters whose radio call-sign was " Bushranger", from his position as an observer/passenger in a light observation Bell Sioux helicopter - call-sign 'Possum'.]

THE PART PLAYED BY ARTILLERY WAS DECISIVE. [Because the fire discipline and tactics of the enemy were almost identical to those of the Australian troops, the artillery fire support to ground troops was a decisive factor in the success of any operation.]

WHAT WE DID ON THE BATTLEFIELD IN THE MORNING WAS ON OUR LIVING

ROOM TV SCREENS THAT NIGHT. [The speed of transmission of the electronic media was such that pictures taken by television cameramen during the day could well be on television back home that same evening.]

THE NVA HUGGED OUR WITHDRAWAL AND ENGAGED THE DUST-OFF

CHOPPERS.

[The North Vietnamese Army troops maintained very close contact with us as we withdrew from the battle area (making artillery support almost impossible) and shot at our medical evacuation helicopters.]

THE TANKS WENT AHEAD OF THE INFANTRY IN APC’S. [The Centurion tanks of the Australian Armoured Squadron deployed and moved in front of the infantry, who were riding in M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers of the Australian Cavalry Squadron.]

THE EFFORT REQUIRED OF THE NURSING SISTERS INDICATES THEIR TOUR OF

DUTY SHOULD BE REDUCED. [The strain experienced by the Australian Army Nursing sisters in carrying out their nursing duties in Vietnam suggests that they should not be expected to spend a 12 month tour of duty in Vietnam.]


HOBART WAS BRACKETED REPEATEDLY BY MEDIUM TO LARGE SPLASHES. [HMAS HOBART was fired upon and the enemy gunfire straddled the ship on a number of occasions.]

THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY WAS LIKE THE POST-VERSAILLES GERMAN ARMY -

MEN IN THE RANKS COULD HAVE BEEN LEADERS. GENERAL WESTMORELAND. [The Australian Army was very professional and well trained, and the soldiers in the ranks displayed a high degree of leadership.]

THE ENEMY FOUND OUR COMMAND RADIO NET, THREW COLOURED SMOKE

AND ALMOST SUCKED THE CO INTO A LANDING. [The enemy started transmitting on our radio network and made out that they were part of it. They threw a coloured smoke grenade as a recognition signal and almost enticed the Commanding Officer into landing his helicopter in the area of the coloured smoke (ie, into an ambush).

BIG CONTACT TONIGHT IN THE BINH BA RUBBER. TROOPS HIT WITH RPG’S.

READY REACTION FORCE WENT OUT IN APC’S. [Our troops cam into contact with a large number of enemy in the Binh Ba rubber plantation this evening. The enemy fired on them with Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG's). A backup force of infantry in M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers was sent out to the area of the contact to assist.]

NOBODY’S GOT 365 DAYS AND A WAKEY TO GO. [A tour of duty in Vietnam was usually one year, or 365 days. New arrivals were invariably taunted by old hand with the fact that they still had 365 days to serve before completing their tour. The reference was that you had a long time to go, and anything could happen. Troops really started to think that they were "short" when the day count got down to 30 or 40 days to go. The term 'wakey' referred to waking up on your last day in Vietnam.]

AN EXTREME EFFORT WAS DEMANDED FROM NURSING STAFF ON THESE

OCCASIONS - OVER 24 HOURS ON DUTY WAS DONE ON MOST OF THE DAYS

MENTIONED. [When large numbers of casualties or sick were being brought into the medical installation at Vung Tau the nursing staff were required to spend long hours on duty and often these tours of duty required nurses to spend more than 24 hours at a stretch on duty, caring for patients.]

THE TEAM. [Refers to the Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam (AATTV) which was composed of Officers and Warrant Officers who acted as Military Advisers to Vietnamese Army units during the Vietnam War.

MAGPIE 35, HIT MY SMOKE. ['Magpie 35' was the radio call sign of one of the Canberra bomber flights of 2 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, which was being asked by an Airborne Foward Air Controller (FAC) to drop their bombs at the place where the FAC had marked the target using a smoke rocket.]

PERTH ENGAGED FIVE CD SITES AS PRIMARY TARGETS, PROVIDED

SUPPRESSION FIRE AND STOPPED A CROSS LOT ON HON ME ISLAND FROM

RADIATING. [This comes from an after-action report by HMAS PERTH and indicates that naval gunfire from PERTH was brought down on five radar/missile sites on Hon Me island, and stopped them from operating their radars against allied targets.]


CONTACT - STAND BY DUST-OFF. [A radio message indicating that the sending unit had come into contact with the enemy and requesting that the medical evacuation helicopters be put on standby to evacuate possible casualties.]

THE DECISION TO SEND AN AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY BATTALION TO VIETNAM

IS A GRAVE ONE, THESE ARE INESCAPABLE OBLIGATIONS WHICH FALL ON US

BECAUSE OF OUR POSITION, TREATIES AND FRIENDSHIP. THERE WAS NO

ALTERNATIVE BUT TO RESPOND AS WE HAVE. [The manner in which an Australian politician announced the reason for the Australian Government sending the First Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment to Vietnam in 1965. The treaties referred to were SEATO and ANZUS.]

AUSTRALIA’S LAST COMBAT FORCES LEFT SOUTH VIETNAM YESTERDAY ON

BOARD HMAS SYDNEY, ENDING 10 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN INVOLVEMENT IN

THE WAR. [The last of the Australian combat forces have left Vietnam on the Troop Transport HMAS SYDNEY, after ten years of Australian involvement in the war, which began with the arrival of members of the Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam, in 1962.]

I DON’T SEEM TO HAVE MANY FRIENDS SINCE I CAME HOME. IF YOU WEREN’T

THERE THEN YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND. [Many Vietnam veterans felt isolated from the community when they came home because of the hostile public attitude to Australia's involvement in the war, which flowed over to those who served in Vietnam. Because of this hostile attitude to the war, the feeling was that if you had not been to Vietnam, you could not understand the difficulties that confronted those who served in the war.]

MORE THAN EVER BEFORE TV SHOWED THE TERRIBLE HUMAN SUFFERING

AND SACRIFICE OF WAR - RICHARD NIXON. [Statement by United States President Richard Nixon on the ability of the electronic media to portray, more than in any previous conflict, graphic images of the human suffering that came out of the day by day conduct of the war in Vietnam.

FROM 1965 ARMY UNITS IN VIETNAM CONSISTED OF ABOUT 50% NATIONAL

SERVICEMEN AND 50% REGULAR ARMY. ABOUT 20,000 NATIONAL SERVICEMEN

SERVED IN VIETNAM. [About half of those Australians who saw service in Vietnam were young men who were conscripted into the Army. The rest were soldiers of the Australian Regular Army (ARA). Not all of those who were conscripted during the years 1964 to 1973 served in Vietnam, and all those who did serve in Vietnam volunteered to go.

THIS IS PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON IN YOUR LOCATION. ["Puff the Magic Dragon" was a converted US Air Force C47 Dakota aircraft that carried flares and a number of mini-guns mounted to fire at the side of the plane's fuselage. The mini-guns were actually based on the form of the old Gatling gun and could fire 6000 rounds per minute. The C47's flew at night, illuminating the battlefield by dropping flares when asked to do so, and providing awesome machinegun support to Allied ground troops. The quotation is from a Puff notifying the ground troops they were in their area and ready to provide support. "Puff the Magic Dragon" was the name of a song of this time, by the group Peter, Paul and Mary.]


THEN SOMEONE CALLED OUT ‘CONTACT’ AND THE BLOKE BEHIND ME SWORE

AND WE HOOKED IN THERE FOR HOURS, THEN A GOD-ALMIGHTY ROAR.

FRANKIE KICKED A MINE THE DAY THAT MANKIND KICKED THE MOON. GOD

HELP ME, HE WAS GOING HOME IN JUNE. [This is a quotation from the song "I was only 19" by the Australian singing group "Red Gum". It relates to a fire fight that had lasted for some hours when an explosion occurred. "Frankie", one of the soldiers had kicked (tripped) a landmine. In the song he did this on the same day that the US put a man on the moon for the first time. Frankie was supposed to be returning to Australia on completion of his tour of duty in June of that year.]

LIKE CHICKEN MAN - THERE WERE CHARLIES EVERYWHERE. ["Chicken Man" was a popular comedy show on the US Armed Forces Radio program. His catchcry was "Chicken Man! He's everywhere, he's everywhere!" Here, like Chicken Man, there were Viet Cong or VC everywhere. The terms VC and Charlie are derived from the phonetic alphabet of Victor Charlie.]

MORE THAN 750,000 MEN TURNED TWENTY DURING THE YEARS OF THE WAR - A

BALLOT WITH MARBLES SPUN IN A BARREL WAS USED TO HELP SELECT THOSE

FOR CONSCRIPTION. [The selection of men to be conscripted into the Army was by means of a ballot using a barrel like those used to pick out winning numbers in a lottery. All those turning twenty were called up for service if the marble representing the date of their twentieth birthday was drawn out of the barrel. During the period when conscription was in operation, about 750,000 turned twenty in Australia.]

I THROW SMOKE! - I SEE GREEN - AFFIRMATIVE. [The positive recognition by aircraft, of friendly troops on the ground, was carried out by the troops throwing a coloured smoke grenade in response to a request from the aircraft. The ground troops would identify the colour of the smoke thrown, and the aircraft would confirm the colour of the smoke seen. If they were the same, they would respond with the word 'Affirmative", confirming that the aircraft had seen the right colour, and could identify the troops on the ground. This procedure was used so that the enemy could not confuse the aircrew, or pretend to be friendly troops by throwing their own smoke grenade.]

PHANTOMS AND SPOOKY WERE INVALUABLE BUT THE HELICOPTER GUNSHIPS

GAVE US THE BEST AIR SUPPORT. [Close air support was given by the US Air Force Phantom F4-C fighter/ground attack aircraft and C47 aircraft called "Spooky", that dropped flares at night, but the most effective air support came from heavily armed helicopters giving close air support using machine-gun and rocket fire.]

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MODERN HISTORY THE OUTCOME OF WAR WAS

DETERMINED NOT ON THE BATTLEFIELD BUT ON THE TV SCREEN. [The power of the electronic media to mould the attitudes of the viewing public (the "home front") about the Vietnam war has been said to have determined the outcome of the war far more than the results of major battles.]

OUR FAMILY FOUND ITSELF DIVIDED OVER VIETNAM. [The attitudes and support for the war in Vietnam often differed between members of the same family. Some supported the Australian involvement and conscription while other members of the same family could be opposed to Australian involvement and to conscription.]


AS A VARIATION WE CLOSED THE VILLAGE CORDON IN DAYLIGHT AND

SEARCHED NEXT MORNING. [One form of operation undertaken in Vietnam was called the "cordon and search". It required a force to set up a ring of troops, or cordon around a village to stop all entry and exit. This generally occurred at night, and during the daylight hours the village was searched for any enemy. In this instance, the cordon was put in place during daylight, maintained during the night, and the search conducted the following morning. Any attempt to break out of the cordon was met with lethal force.

WE MUST LEARN TO UNDERSTAND NVA BUNKER SIGN - TRACKS, LATRINES,

DEAD BRANCHES, STREAMS. [Stones, twigs and branches in various configurations were used as signposts by the North Vietnamese Army to indicate bunkers, weapon pits, tracks, latrines, streams, water, mines and booby traps. This statement relates to the need for Australian troops to understand and use these signs to provide early warning.

AT VAMPIRE PAD OUR OWN DOCTORS AND NURSES TOOK OVER - WE KNEW WE

HAD MADE IT. ["Vampire Pad" was the helicopter landing ground at the Australian Hospital at Vung Tau. Australian casualties felt that as they were still alive when they arrived at this installation then their chances of survival were 100%. This shows the degree of confidence that the Australians had in their medical personnel and installations.]

ON 3 OCTOBER 1987, 25,000 VIETNAM VETERANS MARCHED IN A WELCOME

HOME PARADE THROUGH SYDNEY TO THE CHEERS OF HUNDREDS OF

THOUSANDS. IT WAS THE GREATEST EMOTIONAL OUTPOURING WITNESSED IN

DECADES. [As an act of reconciliation, a "Welcome Home" parade through the streets of Sydney was organised and held on the 3rd of October 1987. This event was considered by the Vietnam Veteran Community as the beginning of the healing process, whereby the Australian public acknowledged the efforts of those who fought in Vietnam, and recognised that they had done an excellent job in undertaking the tasks allotted them, but that they were not to blame for the political decision to send them to Vietnam.]


ENCLOSURE # 2 TO SECTION 5


ENCLOSURE # 3 TO SECTION 5

The Hon. Danna Vale MP Minister for Veterans' Affairs

Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence

Speech

Saturday 5 October 2002

The Hon Danna Vale MP Minister for Veterans' Affairs Minister Assisting the

Minister for Defence

on the occasion of the Rededication of the Australian Vietnam Forces National

Memorial

Vietnam Veterans, and their families who love them, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour for me to be asked to address you at this special commemoration service to mark the Re-dedication of the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial.

This Memorial takes its rightful place here on the hallowed ground of Anzac Parade, an avenue in the heartland of our national capital consecrated to the memory of the heroes who have fought in the wars and conflicts that marked the first hundred years of our nationhood.

It is with a heavy confluence of humility and pride that I would try to express to you, my country’s veterans of the Vietnam War, our nation’s gratitude and esteem for the fine service you rendered to Australia in the distant days of your youth.

I say humility because, even though I am the grand-daughter of a young digger in WW1 whose name is on the Menin Gate; and the daughter of another young digger in WW2 who served in the Middle East, YOU are the servicemen and women of my own generation. And I say pride because like your fathers and grandfathers before you, you have worn the uniform of Our Commonwealth. You too have taken your place as the bearers of the Anzac legend. You too have answered the Call of Country; a call so deep and mysterious that it moves ordinary men to do extraordinary things, and often demands a terrible personal sacrifice. And the history of Australia’s servicemen and women in Vietnam is marked with events and deeds that were indeed extraordinary, as was the personal sacrifice extracted. If not of life, then of youth and innocence.

The Vietnam War represents the longest operational commitment of Australian Forces since Federation. Between 1962 and 1973, when the last Australian troops were withdrawn from South Vietnam, over 59,000 Australian service personnel had taken part in the war directly or in logistic support roles. A grim total of 511 servicemen and one servicewoman died in the War. Over 3000 others were evacuated with wounds, injuries or illness and six are listed as missing in action. Many others still carry the physical and mental scars of the war every living moment, and will continue to carry them into tomorrow.

Ten years ago this imposing Memorial was opened to commemorate the memory of all those young Australians; the mates who paid the ultimate sacrifice and all of you who served with them in Vietnam.


This Memorial is also a tangible symbol of a belated welcome home salute from a respectful nation to its servicemen and women who, long after the last shout of the protestor and the sensational headlines faded from the front page, clearly take their place amongst Australia’s finest.

Much has changed even in that ten years. As a nation, we have matured and reflection has brought greater understanding and pride in the growing appreciation of your efforts in Vietnam and in the service of our country. The annals recording the presence of the Australians in Vietnam clearly show that you met adversity with courage; you faced overwhelming odds with ingenuity and endurance and in the deadly engagement at Long Tan, exhibited the finest skill, leadership, determination, mateship and valour of the highest order in the best traditions of our military history.

On the 18th of August l966, you and your mates added the name Long Tan to those names that are writ large in the history of the first one hundred years of our nationhood. Names like Gallipoli and The Western Front; Tobruk, El Alemain, Kokoda and Milne Bay; Maryangsan and Kapyong and Long Tan are indelibly etched upon the escutcheon of our nation and upon the hearts of every Aussie who would claim to be True-Blue.

By your service in Vietnam, you claimed your Anzac lineage before the world. Despite the terror and harrowing brutality of the Gallipoli experience, the Anzacs never gave up. And Anzacs always looked after their mates. It was the only way to make any sense of it all.

By your own efforts amidst the terror and the harrowing brutality that was Vietnam, you also exalted the very same values of nationhood that were forged by our grandfathers in The Great War. By the values of courage, endurance, sacrifice and mateship, you bound yourselves to other generations of Australian servicemen and women, and by the deep ties, emotional and inexplicable, of memories shared with mates, you are bound inextricably together by the experience.

Even as I speak, I am very much aware that those memories: some sacred, some searing, and all heavy with meaning, hold you still, bind you in the unseen link of mateship that defies the years, and defies distance, and defies explanation, especially to the uninitiated. Together then, together you will be forever.

Ten years on from the dedication of this Memorial, Vietnam Veterans are well known for the strong bond that exists amongst your special brotherhood. It is manifest in the reverent care and the unalloyed commitment that Vietnam veterans offer to each other. It is also evident in the undaunted determination to stand up and to fight governments for all that you rightly deserve.

Vigilant, vibrant advocacy by the Vietnam Veteran community resulted in our Government committing to the Vietnam Veterans’ Health Study, which in turn brought forth many new policy initiatives that included the provision of important counselling services for veterans and their families, the Sons and Daughters program, the Heart Health program, and others. Simply because you never gave up and you always looked after your mates.

And in the same manner, I would like to also raise with you one of those mates who continues to be a real hero in every sense of the word. I would like to raise the name of “Frankie”. You remember Frankie. All of Australia knew of Frankie in l983 through the hit song “I was only 19…”. And you will note on this Memorial, some moving words from that song:

…”Then someone called out “contact” and the bloke behind me swore We hooked in there for hours, then a God-almighty roar Frankie kicked a mine, the day that mankind kicked the moon, God help me, he was going home in June…”

Well, as destiny would have it, I had the privilege of actually meeting Frankie himself only last


week. You will like to know he has given up kicking land mines. He now kicks butt. And he is doing heroic work with young people on the beautiful south coast of New South Wales. He is running leadership courses and he is turning young lives around. Good onya, Frankie! You are a living inspiration of true grit and your iron-clad comitment to your local youngsters make you a real Aussie winner.

Again, this powerful Memorial is a concrete example of that care and commitment Vietnam Veterans share for one another and their communities. It also is a shining example of the outstanding results that Vietnam Veterans achieve when working together with a tight focus on a single purpose.

This re-dedication weekend has also been an excellent team effort led by the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, and the Federal Government is delighted to have helped fund this event with a $50,000 grant provided from our commemorations program, Saluting their Service.

This program is a commitment by our Government to ensure that all Australians remember and honour all of our sons and daughters who have bravely served our nation from the Boer War through to Vietnam and to the more recent peacekeeping operations. Saluting their service seeks to build partnershpis between Government and other organisations to carry o nthe important Australian tradition of rememberance. And it has been a significant success, and many will appreciate the growing awareness, understanding and respect shown by more and more young Australians for those members of our veteran and ex-service community. It is also evident in the increasing record crowds attending Anzac Dawn services across the country.

Australia is a land of peace, a land of prosperity and, therefore a land of opportunity. And we owe it all to our servicemen and women, who during the course of our first one hundred years, have stepped up to the breach, and fought for the peace and prosperity we all enjoy today. Australians have never been conquerors. Our short history shows that Australians have reluctantly marched to war only as fighters for peace. And today, we have deployed another generation of young Australians in the War against Terror, and as we gather here this morning, our Australian sailors are in the Persian Gulf, our Australian airmen are in Kyrgystan and our Australian soldiers are in Afghanistan.

War is hell. There is no other way of saying it. It is hell for those who are in the front line of combat and very often, the hell continues long after the last shot is fired. The experience of war changes men and women forever in some way, and such changes impact on families. Learning to deal with such changes is the real challenge for all of us, not just for veterans, not just your families, but for our communities and for governments in particular.

This magnificent Memorial was championed BY Vietnam Veterans FOR Vietnam Veterans AND for the rest of us. It proudly stands as one of Australia’s most powerful memorials in recognition of the terrible tragedy of war, and to you, the valiant, who would brave the terror for the rest of us. This is indeed sacred ground.

There are many words on this magnificent Memorial. There are many profound words; words of inspiration, of courage, of mateship, and many words of powerful commitment. There are also many words which somehow have a timeless resonance, sobering words which focus the mind and chill the heart.

At least, that is how it seemed to me when I read these words:

“…..The decision to send an Australian battalion to Vietnam is a grave one. These are inescapable obligations which fall on us because of our position, treaties and friendship. There is no alternative but to respond as we have……”


Each and everyone of you here today, and all those mates absent by death or distance, were very much involved in that response. And as a Minister of the 40th Parliament, I personally extend to you the gratitude of our nation for your personal sacrifice. As a Minister of the 40th Parliament, I shout to the whole world: “Our veterans of the Vietnam War answered the call of our country. They served us dutifully and they served us gallantly. They did us proud.”

Finally, I say personally to each and everyone of you: Never forget who you are. You were not just soldiers, or sailors or airmen. You were Australian soldiers. You were Australian sailors. You were Australian airmen. And just like the present generation of wonderful Australian sons and daughters, who, as we gather here, are wearing uniforms as you did once a long time ago, and are serving Australia in foreign lands and on foreign seas, never forget - you are the Pride of the Nation.

God bless and keep you and your families. God bless Australia.


Section 6

Desert Mounted Corps Memorial

More commonly known as the Light Horse Memorial, this memorial commemorates the men of the

Australian Light Horse Brigade as well as the

New Zealand Mounted Rifles, the Imperial

Camel Corps and the Australian Flying Corps

who lost their lives in Egypt, Palestine and Syria

between 1916 and 1918

Unveiled in 1968, this memorial consists of a

free-standing cast bronze figure of two troopers

and their horses set on a granite base. It is a

replica of the original memorial which stood at

Port Said in Egypt depicting a mounted

Australian Light-Horseman defending a New

Zealand Mounted Rifleman standing beside his

wounded horse. It is said to be based on an

incident in the charge at El Arish in 1917.


The original memorial was partly paid for by light horsemen, mounted infantrymen, cameleers and

army nurses who raised £5,400 by subscribing a day's pay towards its cost.

The Commonwealth Government provided another £11,600. It was designed by C Webb Gilbert

who won the design competition and a prize of 250 guineas in 1923. He died before it was finished,

a report at the time saying "the execution of a colossal task far beyond his experience and physical

powers broke Gilbert's heart." Paul Montford, a leading British sculptor, was chosen to carry on the

work. He worked steadily but the memorial did not seem to show the results of his efforts. The

task was passed on to another Australian sculptor, Sir Bertram Mackennal who, with a team of

British assistants completed the monument but he died before he had the honour of seeing it

unveiled.

On 23 November 1932 it was unveiled on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Governments

by the Australia's war time Prime Minister W. M Hughes who was on his way back from a League

of Nations meeting in Europe. The proceedings were broadcast by radio telephone over the 15,000

miles (24,000 kilometres) between Egypt and Australia, the first such direct broadcast between

those two countries.

On the night of 26 December, 1956, during the Suez conflict, an Egyptian crowd attacked the

Anzac monument, smashing it with hammers and large stones. Egyptian newspaper Al Akhbar

reported the memorial would be blown up with dynamite. Police were posted beside the memorial

to protect it and forbade the use of explosives but took no steps to prevent youths defacing it. It was

pulled from its base and smashed beyond repair. The mob tore off the legs and tail of the New

Zealander's horse, smashed away the legs, tail and half the head of the Australian's horse and sawed

off the head, arms and legs of the New Zealander. The figure of the Australian light horseman

disappeared. When peace returned to the area the United Arab Republic agreed to the request of the

Australian and New Zealand Governments to release the damaged memorial and its polished Gabo

Island granite plinth which were then shipped to Australia.

Melbourne sculptor and former official war artist Raymond Ewers and his assistant Cliff Reynolds

reconstructed the statuary, first fashioning a clay working model one sixth the size of the original.

From this plaster impressions were taken, providing a more permanent medium as a full-size model.

This was then shipped in sections to Italy where the final bronze casting was undertaken by founder

P. Bataglia of Milan.

The Australian Returned Services League and the New Zealand Returned Services Association

agreed that it should be erected in Albany, Western Australia overlooking King George Sound

where the first Anzac convoy had assembled before departure. The New Zealand Government gave

its approval and agreed to pay half the cost. The Albany suggestion met with opposition, led by MP

Sir Wilfred Kent-Hughes, one of only two light-horsemen in the Federal Parliament. He said all the

Desert Mounted Corps Associations, except the 10th Light Horse Association based in Western

Australia, wanted the memorial re-erected in Canberra, that location being more accessible to the

majority of potential viewers. However, a decision was made by the Minister for the Interior,

Gordon Freeth, who also represented Albany in Parliament, to proceed and the re-created memorial

on its original base was unveiled in Albany in 1964. Agitation continued and another replica was

erected in Anzac Parade in Canberra. It was unveiled by the Prime Minister, John Gorton, on 19

August 1968.

The First Memorial on ANZAC Parade

Section 7

New Zealand Memorial

The memorial sits on both sides of Anzac Parade at the southern end of the memorial

area. There are similar structures at each site representing the handles of a Maori kete or

flax basket but the design on the eastern side has a New Zealand emphasis and that on the

western side an Australian one. The 'handles' are made of bronze and are 11.5 metres

high. In front of each handle are bronze 'teeth' or nihoniho representing the top edge of

the basket. There are five of these on the New Zealand side and three on the Australian.

The kete handles stand on paving which is different on each side. On the Australian side

the Aboriginal design is the work of Daisy Nadjungdanga from Maningruda in the

Northern Territory, in association with the Sydney-based Urban Arts Projects. On the

New Zealand side is a Maori design by Toi Te Rito Maihi and Allen Wihongi from

Northland. The designs suggest the weaving of a basket and express the interweaving of

land, its peoples and cultures.

The arrangement is a metaphor of sharing the load and mutual experiences, both in peace

and in war. It is based on a Maori proverb: "Each of us at a handle of the basket". The

front of each handle has a stylised woven pattern to reinforce the flax origin of the

original concept, while the back has vertical fluting which alludes to the war memorial

tradition of pillars and to the scars which are the price of war.

Soil from Gallipoli has been buried in the centre of each paved area. On the Australian

side it comes from Lone Pine, is contained within a jarrah box and marked by a granite

block from the Riverina district. On the New Zealand side the soil comes from Chunuk

Bair, sits in a rimu box and is marked by a granite block from the Coromandel. From

each centre, which represents the importance of Gallipoli to the Anzac tradition, emanate,

like ripples in a pond, the names of those campaigns in which the armed forces of the two

countries have served and fought together.

On the eastern side the colour of the paving is predominantly green, black and white, the

colours of the New Zealand landscape. The stone from which the paving is made comes

from Coromandel, Golden Bay and Canterbury so that visitors are literally walking on

New Zealand. Similarly the Australian paving echoes the reds and browns of the

Australian landscape.

The theme of the memorial has a clear New Zealand identity and expresses the Anzac

relationship in all its diversity and richness. Sited at the head of the ceremonial area of

Anzac Parade the memorial is intended to link with other memorials on the Parade and to

commemorate the bonds between the two countries that were forged in war. As it looks

across the lake to the seat of Federal Parliament it is intended to express also the wider

political and social relationships between the two nations.

The invitation to build the memorial came from the Australian Government and was

accepted by New Zealand in 1995. A competition was held the following year, open to

both Australian and New Zealand designers and attracted over 100 expressions of

interest. Twelve teams were invited to submit designs and three were asked to develop

these further. The winning design is the work of Kingsley Baird and Studio of Pacific

Architecture, both of Wellington, NZ. The handles were engineered and constructed in

Melbourne, Australia by Meridian Sculpture Founders.

The memorial was dedicated on 24 April 2001 by the Prime Ministers of Australia and

New Zealand, John Howard and Helen Clark. Mr Howard, in his address, said that there

were no two countries in the world which had formed such a strong bond as New Zealand

and Australia. That association of our histories, of the mingled blood of so many of our

young people, led to the

developing of our common

values. Ms Clark said that in the

symbolic basket are to be found

our shared history, values and

memories and our common

endeavours and sacrifices in

peace and in war. The

connections between New

Zealand and Australia go back

to the earliest years of our

recorded histories. The backdrop

of Anzac Parade and the

Australian War Memorial

remind us that joint military

endeavour has played a

significant part in our histories.

Indeed, convention has it that

our independent national

identities were forged on the

beaches and hills of Gallipoli.

The memorial stands as New

Zealand's gift to the people of

Australia to mark the centenary

of Australian Federation this

year.

East (New Zealand side )3rd 'tooth' from left

This sea we cross over and over. Tides turning on gold and sheep. On rain. On

sand. On earth the fallen lie beneath. On geography. On women standing.

Matilda waltzing. On people of gardens and movement. On trade and union. This sea a

bridge of faith. This sea we are contained and moved by.

JENNY BORNHOLDT

Oval stone in middle of circles on both side

BENEATH THIS STONE LIES SOIL FROM CHUNIK BAIR, GALLIPOLI

Plaque on road corner at each MEMORIAL

Mau tena kiwai o te kete, maku tenai

Each of us at a handle of the basket

West (Australian) side Right hand 'tooth'

This sea we cross over and over. Tides turning on gold and sheep. On rain. On

sand. On earth the fallen lie beneath. On geography. On women standing.

Matilda waltzing. On people of gardens and movement. On trade and union. This sea a

bridge of faith. This sea we are contained and moved by.

JENNY BORNHOLDT

Information current to September 2001

Sources: New Zealand Memorial, Dedication & Order of Service, booklet produced for

dedication ceremony The Canberra Times, 25 April 2001


Section 8

Rats of Tobruk Memorial

Unveiled in 1983, the memorial is based on the

1941 memorial in Tobruk War Cemetery which

was built by Australian soldiers during the siege.

It takes the form of an obelisk about 8.5 metres

high and is constructed of copper alloy, tinted

concrete and marble. The original marble

inscription stone, one of the steps of the Tobruk

Post Office brought to Australia after the war, is

incorporated in the obelisk. The walls of the

memorial symbolise the perimeter defences and

the landscaping around it symbolises the area in

which the siege took place. The 'Eternal Flame'

element, fabricated from a bronze sheet, was

created by Marc Clark and installed in 1984.

This memorial commemorates the siege of

Tobruk, Libya, which began on 10 April and

continued until early December 1941. The

Tobruk Garrison, under major general Sir Leslie

Moreshead, was ordered to delay the advance of

the Afrika Corps to enable the Allies to assemble

reinforcements for the defence of Egypt. The

Garrison comprised the 9th Division and the 18

th

Brigade of the 7th

Division AIF, with elements of

the British, Indian, Polish and other allied armies.

It was supported and supplied by the British and

Australian Navies and Air Forces.

The dedication ceremony on 17 April 1991 was marked by placing a time capsule inside the

monument containing memorabilia from the siege - a Tobruk medal, a German propaganda

pamphlet urging Australians to surrender and a map of Tobruk

Enclosure #1: Tobruk. AWM Research File 58124 April 10958


TOBRUK!

AWM FILE OF RESEARCH 581!24 APRIL 1958

Tobruk, like Gallipoli, is a name that means much in the war annals of Australia. A parallel can also

be drawn between Tobruk and Milne Bay. At Milne Bay the hitherto invincible Japanese suffered

his first defeat - at Tobruk the all-conquering German forces received their first set-back - in each

case at the hands of Australians.

January, 1941, saw the British forces, with the Australian 6th

Division in the fore, sweep the Italians

from the Western Desert all the way to Benghazi and beyond. An extended supply line and the

committal of British forces, (including the 6th Division) to honour our pledge to Greece, made our

position precarious and with the arrival of General Rommel and his Afrika Corps on the scene it

was now our turn to retreat.

The 6th

Australian Division was relieved by the newly-formed 9th Australian Division under Major-

General L.J. Morshead on the 8th of March, 1941, and their role of garrisoning the Western Desert

soon changed when Rommel launched his counter-attack. In the face of superior armour, something

the British forces lamentably lacked, retreat was inevitable. The Commander-in-Chief, General Sir

Archibald Wavell, decided however, that Tobruk must be held for, as he said when he handed over

the Cyrenaican Command to General Lavarack, "There is nothing between you and Cairo".

Tobruk's strength as a fortress lay in the fact that for an attacker there was no cover around the

perimeter as the area is an almost perfectly flat plateau. With the harbour as the heart of the fortress,

the defences built to protect it ran in a rough semicircle across the desert from the coast eight miles

east of the harbour to the coast again nine miles west of it. The defences had been hewn from the

desert and consisted mainly of dozens of strongpoints. These posts were protected by barbed-wire

fences and anti-tank ditches. Supplemented by captured Italian weapons the strength of the garrison

lay in its fire-power, and the extensive use of minefields offset to some extent the weakness in

infantry.

This was the position when the Germans launched their ill-fated attack on April 13th

, 1941. Known

as the "Easter Battle", the Germans had confidently expected a walk-over - instead it had ended in

their being completely routed. The spirit of co-operation, trust and comradeship between the men of

the garrison, consisting of two thirds Australian and one third British, was the real strength of

Tobruk. No other Middle East front saw understanding between the men of these countries so

complete.

On Easter Sunday the enemy made his attack with infantry action against the perimeter. The

vigorousness of his attack was matched however by the vigour of our defence, and his success in

this phase was very limited.

On the morning of Easter Monday the Germans launched their attack by tanks. The familiar pattern

employed by these "Blitzkrieg" experts was to have the tanks break

through the defences - a deep armoured thrust - and through the gap would pour the infantry. In

Poland, France and Belgium these tactics had never failed. Once the tanks had broken through it

had always been the beginning of the end and the rolling up of the defences had been a matter of

course - until Tobruk.

Here the enemy's tanks did not so much break through as they were let through. The Australians lay

low until the German infantry appeared in the wake of the tanks. These were engaged by our fire

with the result the tanks were left to advance without the support they had expected, and the further

they advanced the more intense became the fire they encountered. For there was the secret of our


defence - a defence in depth. The combined force of our artillery and tanks lay waiting for them.

They were hit with every calibre weapon at our command capable of damaging them. The fire of

our 25-pounders at point-blank range was particularly devastating. As the enemy armour in retreat

poured through the gap they had made in our lines, they came under the fire of Brens, mortars, rifles

and shells and terrible confusion resulted.

Thus ended the Afrika Corps' first attempt to capture the garrison. Tobruk was a nut they could not

crack and further attempts such as the Battle of the Salient in April-May had little more success.

While Rommel gained a small amount of territory with his far superior forces, the men of the

Fortress inflicted such heavy casualties he did not seriously attack Tobruk again in 1941. Under the

inspired leadership of General Morshead the actual defensive task of holding Tobruk was, in reality,

held by offensive tactics.

This then was the pattern of Tobruk. A thorn in the side of the German army, upsetting his plans for

an attack on Egypt, and giving us time to build up our forces for a counter offensive.

For over six months Australians had defied and denied him possession of the area, and although

they were evacuated by sea in October for a "rest", having been relieved by the Polish Carpathian

Brigade, one battalion, the 2/13th

remained to fight its way out and join up with the advancing

British Eighth Army on the second advance westwards.

The heroic defence of Tobruk is a notable military achievement and a worthy addition to the long

list of deeds of valour performed by Australian soldiers. At the unveiling of the Memorial in the

Tobruk War Cemetery, the late Chester Wilmot, in a description of the ceremony, concluded by

saying "Their real monument is their name and their most honoured resting place is in the grateful

hearts of their fellow men".


Section 9

Royal Australian Air Force Memorial

This memorial, designed by Inge King and unveiled in 1973, is a free-standing abstract steel sculpture on a stone base. Three large stainless steel panels reminiscent of aircraft wings, rise vertically from the base to a height of almost eight metres. They represent the endurance, strength and courage of RAAF personnel. . The panels enclose a polished basalt base on which rests a bronze plate representing man's struggle to conquer the elements..

The memorial was conceived as a symbol of 20th century ideas and concepts. The shapes symbolise spiritual and physical growth and the everlasting possibilities of greater achievement. The coldness of the steel is softened by detailed textures which give the metal an organic feel. The shimmering surfaces embody the speed and grace of flight.

The inscription per ardua ad astra is the RAAF motto meaning "through adversity to the stars".

In 2000, the National Capital Authority's assistance was sought by the RAAF to renew the Memorial to further honour the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the RAAF. The Authority worked in collaboration with sculptor Inge King, artist Robert Boynes and the Air Force historian Dr Alan Stephens to incorporate additional sculptural elements into the memorial composition. An artwork was prepared for etching onto three 2.4 metre high, polished granite walls positioned to the rear of the existing sculpture. The RAAF Roll of Honour was etched to the rear of two of the walls. The artwork depicts the dedication and valour of the men and women of the RAAF who served Australia and traces the major war episodes from 1915 to the RAAF's role in 2002. The Authority managed the project on behalf of the RAAF Memorial Redevelopment Steering Committee. The scope of the works was increased to include replacement of the existing bluestone paving, up-lighting, flagpoles, and signage. Construction commenced in June 2002 and was completed in October 2002.


The memorial was rededicated at a ceremony on 1 November 2002, attended by Dr Peter Hollingworth, (then) Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. John Howard MP, the Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Houston, as well as many serving and retired Air Force personnel. The ceremony included a spectacular fly-past featuring aircraft used by the RAAF through the various peacekeeping and war commitments, and performances by the RAAF band. The project cost $982 856 inclusive of professional fees. The Authority provided $521 230 from its accumulated depreciation funds. The RAAF Memorial Redevelopment Steering Committee provided $461 626 for construction of the new works.


1 November 2002

TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP ADDRESS

AT THE REDEDICATION OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE MEMORIAL, ANZAC PARADE, CANBERRA

E&OE……………………………

Your Excellencies, Air Marshal Houston, Admiral Ritchie, General Leahy, ladies and

gentlemen. Today we gather in our national capital to honour one of the great parts of the fabric of the Australian nation. We gather to honour the tradition, the loyalty, the dedication and the sacrifice of the men and women of the Royal

Australian Air Force and the Australian Flying Corp over a period of almost 90 years.

We give thanks to the almost 400,000 Australians who have served our nation and the cause of world peace and world justice through the RAAF. We think of its

history and its tradition. We think of the bravery of those men who flew in the Middle East and over the Western Front in World War I. We remember that when Winston Churchill remarked famously that never in the history of human conflict

was so much owed by so many to so few that there were Australian pilots amongst the few who comprised that small number of people who stood against the worst assault of tyranny in World War II. We think of the awful sacrifices of those who

fought in Bomber Command. And it has been calculated that although the members of Bomber Command comprised only 2% of those who enlisted in World

War II, in all services they comprised some 20% of the fatalities, an enormous sacrifice of young Australians in the defence of freedom.

We think of the bravery of those who fought in North Africa, and closer to home we

think of those who took part so decisively in the battle for Australia. We remember the pilots of the Mustangs and the Meteors in the Korean War and, subsequently,

the participation of the Royal Australian Air Force in Vietnam in vastly different circumstances but no less heroically and also in Malaya and, more recently, in the Gulf. And in remembering their sacrifice we also honour a great tradition. And this

is an occasion, particularly at this time of national challenge for Australia and for the values that we hold dear in common with other nations of the world, it is a time

to particularly honour and give thanks to our great national institutions such as the Royal Australian Air Force, formed to give expression to the determination of this nation to defend, where necessary, what it believes in and what it stands for and

what it values most but also an organisation that is founded on decency and a respect for the dignity of human beings.

Just before coming here my wife and I, in company with Air Marshal Houston, have had the opportunity of visiting Richmond Air Base and to give thanks to those wonderful people of the Royal Australian Air Force who carried out the evacuation

of the injured from Bali in the wake of the atrocity committed on the 12th of October. They did wonderful things in the name of Australia. The speed and the

skill and the professionalism involved in the way in which they assembled and then


went to Bali and brought the injured back in such a short period of time was to me

inspiring and it was a vivid reminder and communication to all of us that the capacity of the young of Australia - and most of the people I met this morning were in their 20s - their great capacity to rise to the occasion and to do what is needed

in the name of Australia. And as I talked to them and thanked them you could see on their faces and hear in their voices a sense of pride that they had done

something good for Australia, that they had been Australians together in helping their Australian mates. And it encouraged me, it warmed me to think that that spirit called upon in a different circumstance, very distressing and very challenging in its

own right, different, though, and less challenging and less fatal than the experiences faced by so many of the 14,000 who gave their lives in the service of the Royal Australian Air Force, it was nonetheless in the same spirit and in the

same tradition of loyalty and commitment and quiet dedication to an ideal and a set of values for which this country stands.

So as we think of those who gave so much, as we honour the men and women of the highly professional, superb Royal Australian Air Force of 2002 we, above

everything else, we remember those who died and we salute the values for which they fought and died and for which this country stands. They are what gatherings such as this are all about. They are about the values that unite us all in a

determination to preserve this way of life of ours and a determination to do what is right in the world. That has always been the commitment of the men and women of the Royal Australian Air Force. We thank them for that and we join in this

solemn dedication of a memorial to one of the great traditions, one of the great services and one of the great parts of the Australian nation.


Section 10

Australian Service Nurses National Memorial

The memorial consists of two curvilinear glass walls. Each wall is faced with clear glass over glass. Etched and cast into the inner glass walls, in a timeline sequence, are important images and events drawn from the history of Australian Service nursing. They include names of places in which nurses have served and a collage of historical photographs and extracts from diaries and letters, in the original handwriting . Among values reflected in the memorial are those of human dignity and worth, dedication in bringing succour and care, commitment beyond self, courage, companionship and fortitude. Some panels are blank. This is intentional, reminding visitors of the inconclusive nature of any memorial to an ongoing Service group. The memorial is distinctly horizontal and the form of the interlocking glass walls represents nurturing hands, symbolic of nursing. The walls sit on an elliptically shaped platform. To the south of the two glass walls is a curving masonry wall and below this another curved wall. South of this is an arching wall with seating on its north face. A contemplative space is surrounded with rosemary for remembrance. There are three flagpoles at the north west corner of the forecourt.

The design by Robin Moorhouse, a Sydney-based sculptor, was chosen following a two-stage national design competition conducted by the National Capital Authority. Ms Moorhouse worked with a design team comprising Warren Langley, Brian Wilson, Jenny Toynbee Wilson, Felicity Carruthers and Michael Biddulph.

The memorial was unveiled on 2 October 1999 to mark 100 years of military nursing and to honour those who served and suffered in war. Military nursing in Australia was established in 1899. In January 1900 fourteen nurses set off from Sydney for the Boer War. Nurses from South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia followed. Since then, service nurses have played an important role in every major conflict in which Australia has been involved.

The Australian Service Nurses National Memorial honours past and present Australian Service nurses. Since the time of the South African War, nurses have served by caring for the sick and wounded in every conflict to which Australia has committed troops.


In the midst of the chaos of war, the nurses on the civilian surgical teams provided small islands

of sanity, security and care

the oil smoke, the drill, the ever present threat and vulnerability...

patients were nursed in blankets, there were no sheets, no running water

Not now, tomorrow

War casualties called for new skills...VADs AAMWS and orderlies assisted in their nursing care

...the suction was great, I was pulled into the terrific whirlpool with the sinking ship

We grew tomatoes near the wards so we could give the boys a tomato sandwich

We were quite a distance out to sea before any of the bullets hit us No one panicked They just

marched ahead with their chins up

They came to us straight from the trenches, their muddy clothing frozen on them

an example of calmness and courage to many a shaken soldier

Oblivious to fatigue, to hunger or any need for sleep

Enclosures: # 1 The dedication of the site of the Australian Service Nurses National Memorial Canberra 15 February 1997. # 2 A memorial to Australia’s service nurses. Ita Buttrose. WARTIME # 7 (1999) # 3 Florence Nightingale -Starting with a lighted lamp. Barbara Orchard. WARTIME # 7 (1999) # 4 BoerWar – First Loss. Anne-Marie Conde. WARTIME # 7 (1999) # 5 Heroic Nurses. Richard Reid. WARTIME # 7 (1999) # 6 First World War nursing experiences. Barbara Orchard. WARTIME # 7 (1999) # 7 The nurse as prisoner of war. Ian Hodges. WARTIME # 7 (1999)


ENCLOSURE #1 TO SECTION 10

The dedication of the site of the

Australian Service Nurses' National

Memorial Canberra Speech by the Hon Bruce Scott, MP Minister for Veterans' Affairs on the occasion of the dedication of the site of the Australian Service Nurses' National Memorial Canberra, Saturday, 15th February 1997.

Chief Minister, Kate Carnell, President of the Senate, Senator Margaret Reid, Chief of the Defence Force, General Baker; Mrs Baker; President of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia, Mrs Kroeber; Mr Rusty Priest, representing the National President of the Returned and Services League, Major General Digger James; Patrons of the Australian Service Nurses' Memorial; Matron Vivian Statham (nee Bullwinkel); Mrs Wilma Young (nee Oram); Mrs Pat Darling (nee Gunther); Mrs Lorna Johnstone (nee White); the President of the Repatriation Commission, Dr Neil Johnston; His Excellency the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Mr Fepulea'i; members of the clergy; ladies and gentlemen.

Today's ceremony, dedicating this site on Anzac Parade for the Australian Service Nurses' National Memorial, is one of the most satisfying events I have taken part in since I became Minister for Veterans' Affairs just on eleven months ago.

When I came into office, on my desk was the proposal by the Royal College of Service Nurses for a memorial to the women and the men who have served in the Australian Defence Force Nursing Service - navy, army and air force - from the Boer War to the present day.

It was a project that had languished for some months without the intense support it needed to negotiate the protracted approval process which memorials of this nature require.

Like many Australians, I was aware of military nursing as a profession - Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell were names familiar from childhood. But I had no particular knowledge of the vital part that Australian service nurses have played in the military history of this country.

Two things convinced me to give this project my wholehearted personal support and that of the Government.

The first of these was a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier at the Australian War Memorial.

As I stood in the Hall of Memory and looked up at the soft light through the stained-glass windows over the South door, I was struck by the central figure of the service nurse above the title, “Devotion”.

On either side of her are four figures: an aircraftman, two soldiers and a navy captain.

I was struck by the symbolism. For the service nurse is not separate from the fighting men. She is shown beside them, giving care, support, devotion - and also sharing their risks, their suffering, their loss.


The point is reinforced by the four mosaic figures on the walls watching over the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier: three men representing the armed services, and the fourth - a servicewoman in uniform - standing for all Australian servicewomen among whom, of course, the service nurses have an honoured place.

Certainly the mosaic contains the image of a dying centaur. It reminds us of the hospital ship, Centaur, sunk 22 kilometres off the Queensland coast, in May 1943, in which all but one of the service nurses on board lost their lives. The survivor, sister Nell Savage, was to receive a George Medal for her heroism in helping others despite her own dreadful injuries.

This brings me to the second factor that convinced me to give this memorial my fullest support.

In recent months I have had the honour of meeting a number of service nurses, and learning of their service in many theatres of conflict: in the Boer War, in Europe, the Middle-East and the Pacific: in Korea and Vietnam; with the RAAF Medivac teams and on the navy ships; in the Persian Gulf and, most recently, with the United Nations missions to Cambodia and Rwanda.

Again, listening to their stories, what moved and impressed me was not only the professional dedication of these service nurses, but also the fact that they, too, faced dangers and shared the physical and emotional traumas of conflict. This has been so from the beginning.

`Scores of wounded are alongside,' wrote sister Ella Tucker from her hospital ship off Anzac Cove in 1915, `the guns are so noisy we can't hear ourselves speak…'

Just two years ago, Australian service nurses often worked at great risk to their own safety while serving with the Australian Medical Support Force in Rwanda. Indeed, Captain Lewis Macleod was awarded the Nursing Service Cross for outstanding devotion and competency.

I am sure all of us here today are conscious of the significance of today's date - 15 February. It was on this day in 1942 that Singapore fell to the Japanese. Yesterday was the anniversary of the sinking of the Vyner Brooke 55 years ago. Two days from Singapore with the ship Empire Star, the Vyner

Brooke was carrying among its passengers 65 Australian army nurses. Twelve of these nurses drowned or were killed in the water as the ship was attacked.

Tomorrow we remember the massacre of 21 service nurses from the Vyner Brooke on a beach at Banka Island where they had struggled ashore. The group was lined up by a party of Japanese soldiers and made to march into the sea, where they were machine-gunned from behind.

In the words of the only survivor, sister Vivian Bullwinkel, “they all knew what was going to happen to them, but no-one panicked: they just marched ahead with their chins up.”

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a matter of pride that Vivian Bullwinkel, now Mrs Statham AO, is with us today as one of the four patrons of the Service Nurses' Memorial.

Also with us today are Mrs Wilma Young and Mrs Pat Darling who were prisoners-of-war with sister Bullwinkel .

Service nurses from Rabaul were also taken prisoner-of-war and endured captivity in Japan. One of them is here with us today, from New Zealand, Mrs Lorna Johnstone.

With the dedication of the site today begins the hard work of preparing the design competition and


fundraising of the memorial, to which the Government has already pledged $100,000.

I have no doubt that, with the enthusiasm and dedication to the task at hand you have always shown, the Royal College of Nursing, Australia, will succeed, and the memorial will be opened as planned in October 1999, the year which also marks the Centenary of Australian Military Nursing.

It will be a most fitting tribute to a one hundred year tradition of service and sacrifice that commenced with a contingent of Australian army reserve nurses who served in the Boer War prior to Federation.

I began with the central figure of the nurse in the stained-glass window at the Australian War Memorial.

How appropriate, then, that the Australian Service Nurses' National Memorial is between the Memorials to the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy, and opposite the Korean War Memorial.

Here, in Anzac Parade, you will stand where you have always been: in the midst of those servicemen and women you have dedicated yourselves to serve.

That is why I say this is one of the happiest occasions of my time as Minister. It is why I am honoured and proud to be associated on this day when your work, devotion and sacrifice will be acknowledged on Anzac Parade.

Thank you.


Section 11

Royal Australian Navy Memorial

The memorial is a sculpture standing 8.2 metres high with representational figures emerging from

geometric shapes. It is made of copper alloy, iron, stainless steel, aluminium and zinc. Water

cascades down the sculpture into a moat surrounding it. There are exposed aggregate concrete

paving surrounds and on either side is a pier carrying the Navy's battle honours. Two ceremonial

flagpoles stand forward of the memorial and a plinth at their bases supports the RAN insignia and

dedication plaques.

Also known as 'Sailors and Ships - Interaction and Interdependance' this memorial, by Ante Dabro

in collaboration with Lester Firth and Associates and Robert Woodward, reflects the mutual

dependence of sailors and their ships.

Note by Ed: CPO R.W.Habel, CPO K.C Brinkman and L/Seaman E. H.Price, specially selected

Navy Welders, assisted Ante Dabro with the fabrication of the Memorial.

Bronze figures feature in the memorial and convey the daily activities associated with naval life,

while the geometric forms, such as an anchor chain, depict elements of a ship. The torrents of

moving water complement the dynamic force of the work.

Unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen on 3 March1986, on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of

the RAN.


Enclosures: #1 The National Memorial –Sculptor’s Description

#2 Culmination of an Idea- A National Naval Memorial

ISSUE # 2 (May 2007)

Section 12

Kemal Ataturk Memorial

The memorial is a crescent-shaped wall derived from the symbol on the Turkish flag. Designed by Turkish sculptor Huseyin Gazer and created by the architectural firm PDCM Pty Ltd, it is constructed from aggregate concrete, polished granite, stone sets and copper alloy and is placed on a circular mosaic made up of small granite squares. In the centre section is a bust of Kemal Ataturk , a gift of the Turkish Government and inscribed in the south west corner is the crescent and star symbol of the Turkish flag.

The memorial was refurbished in 2007 in time for ANZAC Day. The refurbishment involved erecting pink-granite columns at the points of the star that encompasses the memorial. Four of these have a placard in English and Turkish telling some of the story of the relationship between the countries and the relationship with Atatürk. To the south of the memorial are two flag poles which fly the Australian and Turkish flags and further south again is a notice board with a description in both English and Turkish. A canister containing soil from Gallipoli has been placed in the ground at the memorial's centre.

In 1985, seventy years after the historic Anzac landing, the Australian and Turkish Governments unveiled this memorial to commemorate the Gallipoli Campaign. The memorial is named after Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who led an Ottoman regiment in defence against the Allies. It honours the heroism and sacrifice of both the Anzac and Turkish troops who took part in the campaign. The words inscribed on the memorial are Ataturk's tribute to those Anzacs who did not return from Gallipoli.

It was built by the Australian Government to reciprocate the agreement of the Turkish Government to an Australian request for the official naming as "Anzac Cove" of the beach where the Anzac


forces landed on 25 April 1915. The other reciprocal gestures agreed to by the Australian Government were to name that part of Lake Burley Griffin at the foot of Anzac Parade as Gallipoli Reach and to name the entrance to King George Sound, at Albany in Western Australia, as Ataturk Entrance. King George Sound is where the first Anzac convoy assembled before departure. Another Kemal Ataturk Memorial has been built overlooking Ataturk Entrance.

On central panel of wall below bust of head of Kemal Ataturk

THOSE HEROES THAT SHED THEIR BLOOD AND LOST THEIR LIVES... YOU ARE NOW LYING IN THE SOIL OF A FRIENDLY COUNTRY. THEREFORE REST IN PEACE. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

THE JOHNNIES AND MEHMETS TO US WHERE THEY LIE SIDE BY SIDE HERE IN THIS COUNTRY OF OURS... YOU, THE MOTHERS, WHO SENT THEIR SONS FROM FARAWAY COUNTRIES WIPE AWAY YOUR TEARS;

YOUR SONS ARE NOW LYING IN OUR BOSOM AND ARE IN PEACE. AFTER HAVING LOST THEIR LIVES ON THIS LAND THEY HAVE BECOME OUR SONS AS WELL.'

KEMAL ATATURK(1934)

MINISTER UNVEILS ENHANCED ATATURK MEMORIAL {VA045 Monday 23 April 2007}

The service and sacrifice of our Anzacs and that of the Turkish forces have been honoured today at the unveiling of enhancements to the Ataturk Memorial by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Bruce Billson.

Mr Billson was joined by His Excellency Mr Murat Ersavci, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, to unveil the newly enhanced memorial located on Anzac Parade in Canberra.

“The Memorial symbolises the events that helped shape our nation, the first landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and honours the heroism and sacrifice of the Anzacs and the Turkish troops who took part in the Gallipoli campaign,” Mr Billson said.

The enhancements bring together five pillars depicting the service of Australian, New Zealand and Turkish forces during the campaign, with text and photographs.

“The National Capital Authority managed the enhancements to the memorial and I am pleased the Australian Government, through my Department, was able to support this through $330,000 in funding,” Mr Billson said.

The NCA manages the Australian Government's continuing interest in the planning, promotion, enhancement and maintenance of Canberra as the nation's capital, on behalf of all Australians.

Mr Billson said the Ataturk Memorial recognised the strong friendship between Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.

“The Memorial, which is named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who led and inspired the Turkish forces at Gallipoli and later became the first president of Turkey, was officially opened in 1985 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings,” he said.

“The memorial was part of a reciprocal arrangement with the Turkish Government to name the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula, where the Anzacs landed, Anzac Cove.”

Mr Billson said the Australian Government worked cooperatively with the Governments of Turkey and New Zealand to ensure dignified and respectful commemorations occurred each year for Anzac Day.

“It is with the support and cooperation of the Government of Turkey that Australians and New Zealanders are able to gather in large numbers at Gallipoli on Anzac Day each year to remember the more than 8700 Australians, 2700 New Zealanders and 86,000 Turks as well as soldiers from other nations who lost their lives there,” he said.

“The friendships forged over time with other nations ensure those who have fallen overseas will not be forgotten. Our nation is indebted to the courageous service and sacrifice of our servicemen and women.” Enclosure #1 : Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal).AWM Encyclopedia 2006


ENCLOSURE # 1 TO SECTION 12 Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal){AWM Encyclopedia 2006}

Ataturk was born Mustafa Kemal on 12 March 1881 at Salonika (now Thessalonika, Greece). After graduating from the military academy in Constantinople (Istanbul), Kemal pursued his military career with the Turkish Army in Syria. A member of the Young Turk revolutionary movement which deposed the Sultan in 1909, he took part in the war of 1911–1912 against Italy in Libya. During the Second Balkan War in 1913 he became the chief of staff of the army in the Gallipoli Peninsula, until posted as military attaché at the Turkish embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Kemal returned to Gallipoli in 1915 as commander of the 19th Division, the main reserve of the Turkish Fifth Army, and was thus on hand to oppose the ANZAC landing in April. His superb grasp of strategy and ability to inspire his troops by his reckless bravery in action boosted Turkish morale and proved decisive in thwarting allied plans. Given command of all Turkish forces fighting in the Anafarta sector from Chunuk Bair to Suvla Bay, he was granted the title of Pasha after the August battles there. After commanding in the Caucasus, Kemal was at the head of Seventh Army in Palestine during the final allied offensive which defeated Turkey in 1918.

Colonel Mustafa Kemal (fourth from left) with officers and staff of the Anfarta group, Gallipoli Peninsula, 1915.

The anti-Ottoman government bestowed the title of Ghazi (victorious) on Kemal as he had the vision to bring Turkey on par with twentieth–century western countries. Turkey became a republic in 1923 and Kemal became the first president. During his 15 year rule, many sweeping changes were introduced to the political, legal and socioeconomic fields. He was an immortal hero to his people and an extraordinary leader and peacemaker. Kemal said in 1933, "I look to the world with an open heart full of pure feelings and friendship". In 1934, he accepted the title "Ataturk" (father of the Turks).

ISSUE # 2 ( February 2010)

On the 19th of December 2008, the winner of the Australian Peacekeeping Memorial Design Competition was announced at Parliament House. The winner of the competition was Super Colossal, based in Sydney.

ENCLOSURE # 2 TO BACKGROUNDER # 92

AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPING MEMORIAL

The Australian Peacekeeping Memorial has two main elements. The first is a glowing passage of light that is a powerful entry for the Memorial. The passage is between two massive monoliths, raised slightly off the ground in a stone courtyard. They make up a monumental structure that is the right size for Anzac Parade. The pathway between the two polished cubes glows with an intense golden light. This light can evoke the Australian Peacekeepers’ role and their help to local populations. The Memorial with the lit interior has a striking presence on Anzac Parade both by day and night. Passers by will see just this imposing bulk, relieved by the glow of light.

As visitors go deeper into the Memorial they can walk through the passage of light They may be reminded of deep canyons in the Australian outback, with towering walls but the uplifting blue sky above. They may feel the warmth and comfort of the light between the two imposing monoliths. They then will come to a courtyard, of more intimate size and feel. It is surrounded by Australian trees. Written in the pavement are words evoking the qualities and sacrifice of Australian Peacekeepers. Along the back will be a long horizontal beam recording the many peacekeeping missions in which Australians have served and an inclined plane to receive wreathes and other mementoes. This inner space will be suitable for both formal ceremonies and smaller scale commemoration. It will also be a place of quiet reflection on personal experiences and the significance of Peacekeeping. Around the wall are bronze fixtures so that visitors may place flowers or candles to remember their relatives and loved ones.

THE PROPOSED LOCATION FOR THE PEACEKEEPING

MEMORIAL IS THE SECOND SITE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF ANZAC PARADE LOOKING TOWARD THE

AWM – THE VACANT SITE NEXT TO THE NEW

ZEALAND MEMORIAL


Objectives

The key objectives of the APMP are;

• To erect a Memorial in Canberra by Australian Peacekeepers Day on the 14th September 2012 that appropriately recognizes the sacrifice and continuing contribution of Australians to international peacekeeping.

• To develop appropriate design criteria and guidelines that meet the requirement of the Canberra National Memorials Committee, and fittingly represents Australia's past and present peacekeeping role in the world.

• To develop, monitor and adjust as appropriate the publicity, marketing and fund raising activities associated with APMP to best meet the APMP vision in a changing environment.

• To encourage contributions to the APMP Gift Fund of any kind whatsoever as the Committee may deem advisable.

• To provide effective and efficient management of the APMP, its assets and all associated resources.

Purpose

The Memorial will commemorate and celebrate Australian peacekeeping past, present and future. It will commemorate the courage, sacrifice, service and valour of Australian Peacekeepers given in the same spirit as in other conflicts honoured by cenotaphs and memorials across Australia and on ANZAC Parade. It will also celebrate Australia's contribution to international peacekeeping since its commitment to the first UN peacekeeping mission on 14th September 1947. It will further enhance the excellent achievement and reputation of Australia and its Peacekeepers in international peace and security.

It will acknowledge the deaths and casualties suffered by Australian Peacekeepers while deployed on operations. It will recognise the critical contributions made by the Australian Defence Force, the Federal, State and Territory Police Forces, and Australian civilians to peacekeeping operations which are commanded or authorised by the United Nations, or are sanctioned by the Australian Government. It will be a reminder of the difficulties and dangers international peacekeeping often faces in remote and isolated regions, where infrastructure is destroyed and peace is at best fragile. It will acknowledge the skills, professionalism, resourcefulness and courage required of individuals in such circumstances, the often horrific humanitarian crises and human rights abuses they must confront and the long term emotional and physiological impact these experiences can have on individuals. It will also reflect awareness of the support and sacrifices given by the families of peacekeepers.

The Memorial seeks to show that Australia's contribution to peacekeeping exemplifies Australian openness, fairness, egalitarianism, mateship, initiative, and respect for diversity and social justice for all people.


The Memorial will record the evolution of international peacekeeping over the last 60 years, including the development of complex multi-dimensional and integrated missions with multi-national military, police and civilian components. It should demonstrate that Australia and the individual Peacekeepers that it sends overseas contribute positively to international peace and world stability by assisting nations to regain stability and aiding individuals in distress and danger.

The Memorial will be a focal point for national parades and remembrance ceremonies in recognition of Australian peacekeeping on appropriate occasions such as ANZAC day (25th April), UN International Day of Peacekeepers (29th May), Australian Peacekeeper's and Peacemaker's Day (14th September), and United Nations Day (24th October). It will be available always for individual and group commemoration and reflection.

The Australian Peacekeeping Memorial will be a living memorial in that it will identify past and future peacekeeping operations and ongoing national and individual commitment and sacrifice.

Strategic Relationships and Partnerships

To ensure success, it is critical that a cooperative partnership is developed between the APMP and the many individuals and groups interested in the project. These include the Australian Federal Government, the Australian Capital Territory Government, the Australian Defence Force, the Australian Federal, State and Territory Police, Commonwealth and State Departments who have deployed members on Australian peacekeeping operations, the Ex Service Organisations and Veterans communities, the Media and the Australian Public.

It is important that the Memorial is complementary to the concepts of service and sacrifice represented by other national memorials in Canberra and within the ANZAC Parade and Australian War Memorial precinct.

It will be particularly important to engage with past and serving members of the Defence Force and Police who are peacekeeping veterans or currently serving in peacekeeping operations.

{Reference: APMP website February 2010}


WORLD WAR 1 AND WORLD WAR II MEMORIALS

On 26 February 2009 the Brisbane-based firm Richard Kirk Architects Pty Ltd

was announced as the winner of the design competition for two new national memorials to honour the more than 1.4 million Australian service men and women who served in the First and Second World Wars. The 20 metre granite memorials will be built on the northern shore of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, at the foot of Anzac Parade, to frame the view of the Australian War Memorial.

Each is cut carefully to allow the light through at significant moments.

The rising sun will form a precise passage through the World War I memorial at dawn on Anzac Day, and finer cuts will be aligned to allow light through at ll am on the 11th day of the lIth month for Remembrance Day.

The World War II memorial is cut to let the light through to mark the end of the battle for Kokoda.

The World War I memorial represented the trenches of the Western Front and the World War II memorial was designed to reflect the jungles of Papua New Guinea.

The monuments' walls will be inscribed with text from soldiers' letters home and they will be separated by a granite pavement, inscribed with the names and losses of towns that lost citizens. !

The Memorials which it is hoped will be ready for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in 2015, will cost an estimated $21 million. The Australian Government has committed $250,000 to the project. Further details at : www.mdc.org.au. (Reference : DVA Media Release 26.02.09)

World War I Memorial World War II Memorial



BOER WAR MEMORIAL

On 1 March 2007 the CNMC approved the proposal by the Royal Australian Armoured Corps Association for a Boer War Memorial to be constructed on Anzac Parade by 2010. The site is between the New Zealand Memorial and the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial and it was dedicated on 31May 2008.

voluntary guides backgrounder number 92 … anzac parade - … · for a number of years i have...

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