Armistice Day

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:37): This Sunday, 11 November 2018 marks the 100^th anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War. It was the day when the guns of the Western Front fell silent after four years of continuous warfare. It was believed at the time to be the war to end all wars. Sadly, that was not to be the case.

The allied armies had driven the invaders back having inflicted heavy defeats upon them over the preceding four months. In November, the German leaders called for a suspension of fighting in order to secure a peace settlement and accepted allied terms that amounted to unconditional surrender. In that year alone, there were close to 48,000 Australian casualties and more than 12,000 who lost their lives.

In the four years from 1914 to 1918, more than 330,000 Australians had served overseas and more than 60,000 of them had died. Many more lived their lives suffering the legacy of the war, physically and mentally, as did their families. Loved ones—brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers—were lost. Seats were left empty at family gatherings around the dinner table. They were forever missed.

One of these was Private Harold Wortley of the 32^nd Infantry Battalion, who died a young man on 3 September 1918, only weeks before the declaration of the armistice, from wounds sustained during the Hundred Days, the final major period of hostilities involving the Allies on the Western Front. They were assigned as the shock troops of a major offensive that began with the Battle of Amiens on 8 August on what came to be known as the Black Day of the German Army.

Our family has recently come across letters written by young Harold, along with the telegram telling of the injuries from which he died. His great-great nephew is in the process of uploading these on the Virtual War Memorial site. One letter sent home from France, on paper with the letterhead 'On Active Service With the British Expeditionary Force' printed across the top, tells of young Harold's last Christmas. I am sure it would have brought a smile to the faces of his parents. He wrote in lead pencil:

For our Christmas lunch we went to market and bought a live turkey and a piece of pork. We had three courses—our cook did the catering and he did a very good job.

New Years day was better still. We hired the school room and had it decorated. It was a great turnout. Everything we wanted was there for us. A lot of them just about got drunk.

I have met a lot of Alberton Chaps in France. Lately we have had a lovely fall of snow, the best I have seen. Up in the mountains the troops have a good time sliding down the hills.

Only months later, Harold was to become one of 16 million who died in World War I. The Great War effectively came to an end on 11 November, when the guns fell silent with the declaration of the armistice, the finalisation coming with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.

In the postwar years, the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month attained a special significance as Armistice Day, remembering all those lost to the battlefields during the First World War. At the end of the Second World War, the Australian and British governments changed the name to Remembrance Day to make it a day to commemorate all who died in war.

Today in Australia on Remembrance Day, poppies are a feature, and we remember those who died or suffered for Australia's cause in all wars and armed conflicts. The symbolism of the poppy lies in the landscapes of the First World War. Poppies were a common sight, especially on the Western Front, flourishing in the battlefield soil. The flowers provided Canadian Dr John McCrae with inspiration for his poem In Flanders Fields.

This Sunday, at the Gilles Plains and Hampstead RSL, I will join veterans, members of our armed forces—Army, Navy and Air Force—their families, RSL members and local residents for a Remembrance Day service. Many will be wearing red poppies in remembrance of those who died or suffered for Australia's cause in all wars and armed conflicts. Sadly, this year we will miss the presence of our former sub-branch president John Barnett OAM, who passed away in August in his 99^th year.

In 1940, at the age of 20, when the Second World War had been underway for some months, John wanted to join the Air Force. Being under 21 years of age, he needed the permission of his father, who initially refused to sign the permission papers. Eventually he relented, and while John was unsuccessful in getting into the aircrew due to poor eyesight, he joined the administration staff of the RAAF. He was deployed across Australia wherever there was a need. John Barnett OAM was active in our local RSL, being a president of the sub-branch at Gilles Plains and Hampstead for an amazing 33 years.