Matters of Interest

ANZAC Day Commemoration Services

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:28): On ANZAC Day this year, women who served in the Australian Defence Force led Mount Gambier's ANZAC parade for the first time in history. Leadership of this parade raised awareness of women's contributions in armed conflicts, and it encouraged women, some of whom have not marched before, to join the march, wearing their medals quite correctly on the left-hand side. The By the Left initiative was one step in broadening the public perception of what a veteran looks like. Many women had reported that they no longer attended memorials because they were asked to wear their medals on the right, obviously by people who assumed that they had not earned the medals themselves.

One wears medals on the right if wearing them for someone else. Family members of a deceased recipient may wear that person's medals on commemorative occasions, such as ANZAC Day, but the placing of the medals on the right side shows that the wearer is not the original recipient. One's own medals are worn on the left. No veteran should be subject to the indignity of being asked to move medals won through hard work and sacrifice because of an outdated sense of who has served.

I was delighted to see that the Mount Gambier march encouraged people to thank women and younger personnel for their service, acknowledging that they are veterans. Women now make up about 15 per cent of the defence forces, but in the past, of course, there were far fewer women in the ranks. Indeed, much of our popular culture left out the contribution of women altogether.

Rudy Furlong, pastor of Mount Gambier's Liberty Church, alluded to the shaping of perceptions through our history in his address at the service which followed the Mount Gambier parade. He talked about the over 2,000 Australian nurses who served in World War I, who were instrumental in saving the lives of the diggers who made it through but were left out of the ANZAC legend to a large degree—one might say until quite recently. He said:

During an era when women had only just received the vote in Australia and New Zealand, and were more often than not confined to the home, even signing up was a bold and brave move for the nurses.

Mount Gambier RSL President Bob Sandow reported that this year was the largest contingent of women marching in Mount Gambier's ANZAC Day parade. I had the privilege of attending the dawn service in Port MacDonnell on ANZAC Day, followed by the excellent breakfast at the community hall afterwards. My compliments to all the organisers of both the service and the breakfast, and special mention of my young neighbour, Natika Fensom, for her strong and lovely rendition of our national anthem.

It is estimated that this dawn service attracted more than 400 people, a considerable turnout for a town the size of Port MacDonnell, and similar, I think, to the number I saw when I attended last year's dawn service there. The Mount Gambier march and the service that followed brought together many thousands of people to honour those who have served our nation. Pastor Furlong's address at the 11am service also included a significant reflection:

Privilege and freedom always come at a great price.

Privilege and freedom always come at a great price. He recalled that it is those individuals who served their countries with distinction who paid the ultimate sacrifice in laying down their lives and who enabled us to live in freedom. We can pay tribute to their bravery and steadfastness in the midst of incredible odds, and we can keep that flame burning. We keep it burning when we acknowledge and remember their service. We keep it burning when we honour our current and former Defence Force members, and we keep it burning when we remember that freedoms that are fought for and dearly won must never be easily given up. Let us thank the women and men who have served so that we can continue to enjoy those freedoms.