Western Front Centenary

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. Can the minister tell the house how South Australia commemorated the 100^th anniversary of South Australia's involvement on the western front during World War I?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:30): I thank the member for Colton for the question. The centenary of ANZAC offers all of us an opportunity to reflect on the courage, service and sacrifice of all Australians, and particularly South Australians, during periods of conflict over the last century. I recently had the opportunity, together with the shadow minister for veterans' affairs and His Excellency the Governor of South Australia, to attend commemorative services of Australia's involvement on the western front, specifically at Fromelles in northern France.

We also had the opportunity to view the annual Bastille Day celebrations, where the colours of South Australia's 10^th/27^th Battalion were amongst those that led the parade at the invitation of the French government. This was particularly poignant as it acknowledged the 179,455 Australian battle casualties on the western front between March 1916 and November 1918. The battle of Fromelles resulted in what has been termed by the Australian War Memorial as 'the worst night in Australia's military history'. In one 24-hour period, 5,533 young Australian men became casualties, with more than 2,000 killed. Of those killed, 1,299 would be declared missing with no known grave. The Governor and I attended at Menin Gate in commemoration of that on the evening before the Fromelles battle ceremony.

Designed as a feint to keep the Germans from moving their reserves to the Somme, Fromelles was Australia's first major action on the western front on 19 July, having withdrawn from Gallipoli the previous December. The losses incurred at Fromelles made this battle the most expensive in terms of lives lost over a 24-hour period in Australia's war history. It must be remembered, however, that there were heavy losses throughout the war and there were other days that were almost as terrible.

There would also be battles that would go on much longer, with the numbers of dead reaching an even higher level. At Pozieres, just a few days later on 23 July 1916, for example, there were many more Australian deaths and the battle lasted almost seven weeks. The high proportion of those men killed whose bodies were neither recovered or could not be later identified added to the tragedy of Fromelles. It also brought about a unique memorial on the western front called VC Corner. The memorial stands over 410 Australian graves in a cemetery bearing no headstones; each man was lost in the battle. Their names, with almost a thousand others, are on the memorial's wall and each one of these 1,299 names represent an Australian lost or unidentified after the fighting.

Approximately 6,000 South Australians did not return from the First World War. Some discharged from the AIF while overseas, but most were killed in action or died of wounds or disease and we remain forever in their debt. Their service and sacrifice must not be forgotten by the South Australian government, the South Australian community and South Australians everywhere, along with our fellow Australians.