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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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WESTERN FRONT SCHOOL STUDY TOURS

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:08): I move:

That this house commends Aberfoyle Park High School and other secondary schools for organising and supporting Western Front study tours.

I apologise to members that it has become 'Bob Such Day'; that is through circumstances outside my control. That is my excuse.

Earlier this year I had the privilege of travelling with students from Aberfoyle Park High School to the cemeteries and battlefields of World War I in France and Belgium. They were a great group of students. The tour was accompanied by a teacher from Reynella East college and also by a teacher from Aberfoyle Park High School. My wife came along as well. I paid for the cost of her tour, except for the airfare because, in effect, she was acting as a parent in case anything happened to any of the children.

As part of that tour we visited numerous World War I cemeteries, and one comes to the conclusion that World War I was a colossal slaughter, a war that achieved nothing except it killed a lot of young men, in particular. In visiting those war cemeteries, some of those killed in action were 15 years of age. I do not think people here ever appreciated fully what our soldiers went through. Likewise the soldiers from Canada, United Kingdom and, indeed, the German soldiers fighting on the other side. It was just a shocking waste of life that achieved absolutely nothing.

The conditions in which these soldiers fought were horrendous and almost beyond description. We focus a lot on Gallipoli and it is appropriate that we acknowledge those who fought and died and were injured at Gallipoli. Australia lost approximately 8,000 men at Gallipoli; on the Western Front, Australia lost close to 40,000. So in highlighting particular conflicts one should not forget that there are a lot of other conflicts where even more young men were cut down and their lives ended.

The high school group visited Menin Gate, near the city of Ypres, I think the Aussies called it 'leper'—

Mr Pengilly: 'Wipers'.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: Yes, 'Wipers'. We attended the ceremony on three nights. If members ever get a chance, at 6 o'clock every night of the year they have a ceremony in memory of the fallen soldiers, particularly Australians who died around that area. The Hon. Brendan Nelson, who was the ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, the federal Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Warren Snowdon, and the Air Vice Marshal of the RAAF were all there on one of the nights. One of the students from Aberfoyle High School, who is in the Air Force cadets, was asked by the Air Vice Marshal to accompany him for the wreath laying ceremony, and I think young Lachlan thought that all his birthdays had come at once to be granted that honour.

The students who went all had to research a fallen soldier and they all had to give an address at the gravesite of that fallen soldier. Whilst some days it was bleak and wet and so on, that did not deter the students or the rest of the group from having a ceremony for each of those fallen soldiers. I could guarantee that none of those young people, who were aged 15 or 16, will look at life in the same way following their visit and experiences there.

We visited German war cemeteries as well. The German cemeteries are different in their character. With the Australian war cemeteries, which are beautifully maintained by the War Graves Commission, the Australian practice is to allow relatives to have an inscription on the tombstone—and I think we are the only nation that does that. Each memorial stone had a personal inscription which had been nominated by the family of the fallen soldier. As well as the Australian ones, we also visited the British cemeteries. At Tyne Cot there are 16,000 British buried; and there are more who are not buried there as they were never found.

We visited the Passchendaele Memorial Museum, the Polygon Wood/New Buttes Cemetery, the trenches at Hill 62, Hill 60 and Messines Ridge. I had heard about Hill 60, but had never seen where it took place. It was the largest man-made explosion prior to Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The explosion was so significant that it was felt across the Channel in Dublin. There were many Australian diggers who participated in tunnelling under German lines and blowing up the Germans. For someone like myself, who is claustrophobic, the thought of these guys crawling on their hands and knees with explosives for not just a few metres but for a long distance to get under enemy lines and then blow up the enemy is enough to make me feel off. We visited sites which have only recently been discovered and where the remains of entombed soldiers have only just been discovered.

I compliment Claire Forsyth, a teacher from Aberfoyle Park High School, for brilliantly organising this trip, and her husband Martin, who teaches at Reynella East College. This tour had the strong support of the principal of Aberfoyle Park High School, Liz Mead.

I conclude by saying that Aberfoyle Park High School is not the only school to participate in these tours. I believe Willunga has participated in one, or is going to, and Reynella East College is scheduled to participate in one next year or the year after. There were also students from other schools and colleges from around Australia. It is a fantastic experience. It cost the students, or their parents, $7,000. We had some fundraisers to help the students out with their costs, selling sausages on the weekends.

It is a great experience. When I say it is a wonderful experience, it is wonderful in the sense that it opens the eyes of these young people to the sacrifice of many fine young men, in particular, and some women (not many), who lost their lives in what turned out to be a futile and wasted exercise carried out on behalf of, basically, the royalty and manufacturers of Europe, who were contesting empire as well as a place in terms of opportunities to sell things around the world. It opened the eyes of those students. It would be great if all young Australians could visit these places because I think they would appreciate more the sacrifice of those fine young men who gave their lives in horrific situations.

In my own area of Coromandel Valley, nearly every family lost at least one lad in World War I. When it came to building a memorial in Coromandel Valley, each family, and they were not wealthy, gave the equivalent of a year's wage towards that memorial. Whilst the immediate relatives of the people who were involved are no longer with us, I was able to place a poppy on behalf of some of my constituents, which was a very emotional time. I commend this motion and I commend the schools that participate and the Department for Education and Child Development for its support. I think the more young people who can undertake one of these enlightening tours, the better.

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (12:19): I rise to indicate the opposition's support for the member for Fisher's motion. We do so out of respect for the efforts that are made by a lot of people across our community, and schools, to ensure that our future generations have an awareness of the sacrifices that have been made in the past. One of my great personal dreams in life is the hope that I can actually visit the Western Front one day to absorb some of the sadness and the tragedy of it all. World War I went for four years. It was called the Great War. It was meant to be the war that ended all wars. Sadly, we know that in 1939 a second world war started.

From Australia's perspective, many of our finest young men lost their lives, and it is an important statistic to understand that, from memory, 69,000 Australians died in World War I. A total of 400,000 volunteered to serve, and in a nation that only had a population of about four million at that stage, to think that one in every 10 of our nation actually served in World War I is remarkable. It is even more impressive when you respect the fact that, of men aged between the age of 18 and 40, 40 per cent volunteered to serve. They were brave souls; sadly, 69,000 of them did not return home.

I think this motion from the member for Fisher acknowledges the efforts being made in our current generations to respect those sacrifices and to educate ourselves. Those kids who came back from that trip will remember for the rest of their lives what they have seen and heard. They will tell their friends and they will tell their own children, and there will be a continued respect for the sacrifices made now nearly 100 years ago, but sacrifices that are still very close to us. On behalf of the opposition, I confirm our support for the motion.

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (12:21): I see that I am supposed to speak about this, although I do not remember seeing notes. Never mind, I am sure I did. However, having read the motion of the honourable member, I want to draw attention to the fact that visiting battlefields is indeed an excellent way to get more understanding of our history and the history of service in our nation, but it is not the only way. The people in the south annually hold the ANZAC Youth Vigil. This involves all the youth service groups in the area, supported by many of the adult service organisations. It is auspiced by the Morphett Vale RSL, but I am very proud to say that it is one of the legacies of my term as a member of parliament, because I initiated it and was honoured by the way a number of key people came together immediately to assist in establishing a committee.

Brian Holecek produced such an excellent book of guidelines that they have now been co-opted by a number of other areas, and it has led to a broader distribution of ANZAC youth vigils. This in turn has led our young people to a broader understanding of the Western Front and other aspects of military service. One part of the vigil is that we have a guest speaker a couple of weeks before the event. These speakers talk about their experiences. We have been extremely honoured to have Bill Smith, who is a well-known prisoner of war from Changi, come and talk about his experience, and also remarkably honoured to have Jan Ruff O'Hearn talk about her experience as a prisoner of war, so that our young people get to see people who have lived through this. They get to hear what it was that they lived through.

I would also make the point that in my area it would be very difficult for people to find the money to go to the Western Front. The education department already has opportunities for young people to be involved in learning about the Western Front, in particular. I think the member for Fisher is correct in saying that the focus has not been on the Western Front until fairly recently but there is now a far greater focus on the Western Front and the tragedy of seeing rows and rows of graves, some named but so many not named.

Having been assisted by the notes, I can now add some comments from the minister. There is a tribute to the students who took part, that they did considerable research as part of this visit to the World War I sites on the Western Front in France and Belgium, and it is a tribute to the students that they not only demonstrated a passionate interest in this field of Australia's history but also showed leadership, commitment and discipline as ambassadors of their school and our state during their study tour.

I can add that the young people involved in the youth vigil show exactly the same thing. One of the things that has really impressed me is that there is a voluntary session of practice marching the weekend before the vigil. Nearly every child comes out to practise marching. I have to tell members that over the 10 years of the vigil, the marching has improved considerably, but the fact that the young people recognise that this is important and that they want to do the right thing by even being able to march properly is a real tribute to the young people of today who, in their own way, do the sort of tributes that the students from Aberfoyle Park did.

Many schools offer the opportunity for young people to participate in educational study tours and they provide students with a real and practical opportunity to gain a firsthand appreciation of cultural diversity, of different languages and customs and of what it means to be a global citizen. Student excursions such as these also make real connections with language and history curricula and offer students the opportunity to put what they learn in the classroom into real and lived experience. Study tours such as this to the Western Front add a particular dimension to learning and understanding of our past and, in particular, the spirit of the ANZACs. As members will be aware, many young people from all school sectors have participated in the Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize over the years.

This initiative has enabled student groups to visit memorial sites, battlefields and museums in France and Belgium. Aberfoyle Park High School teachers, parents and students were inspired to organise this trip to the Western Front because of the positive feedback from the students and teachers of the school who had previously taken part in the Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize. We can be particularly proud that young people at this great school each spent considerable time and effort to examine the life and times of individual soldiers who sacrificed their lives at the Western Front during this terrible war.

I take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge each of the young people who did their research and then prepared a heartfelt remembrance to the passing of these soldiers and a commemoration of their life and sacrifice at their grave sites. I have no doubt that this experience is one that each of the students will carry with them for the rest of their life. I also acknowledge the support of the member for Fisher for the initiative and particularly commend the teachers, students and parents at Aberfoyle Park High School who honoured our ANZACs in this way.

While we are talking about teachers, parents and students honouring ANZAC, I would also like to thank the many parents, teachers and students who participate in the youth vigil, not only through youth organisations, but as representatives of their school, where they come and lay a tribute on the memorial as part of the ceremony of the ANZAC Youth Vigil in the south.

One year, it was raining, like cats and dogs, raining. As a VIP, I was under the tent, but the poor students who were making these tributes were all sitting out in the rain. I spoke to one of them afterwards and said, 'Oh gee, you're pretty wet, you'd better go home and get a warm shower soon,' and he said to me, 'I sat in the rain for a couple of hours; those soldiers lived in wet trenches for months on end.' I figured that our young people get it, and I thank the member for Fisher for his motion.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (12:30): Just very briefly, I want to commend the member for Fisher for this motion, and I noted his words. It is very gratifying to know that young people are rising to the occasion and taking initiatives such as this. I think the member for Fisher mentioned Beneath Hill 60, a movie recently released which certainly highlighted some of the shocking conditions that our soldiers went though. They specifically chose Australians for this special mining operation, to mine under a key German position, and it was probably the largest explosion of the First World War.

I commend the students of Aberfoyle Park High School, and all the other secondary schools across the state. In particular, I commend Nuriootpa High School in the Barossa Valley, where they had a special ceremony last ANZAC Day to recognise all those soldiers in the local area who served in the First World War, and made a special presentation. In fact, some of the students went on these tours to the front.

My own son, as you would know if you know my son, is not exactly an emotional person, and is very matter-of-fact. Last year, he was in Villers-Bretonneux for ANZAC Day. It is great for young people to be paying tribute like this. For my son, of all people, to be there and to get emotional about it really does say that young people do appreciate what was done for them. This was a sacrifice worth fighting for, and I do not think we well ever forget. I commend the motion.

Mr BROCK (Frome) (12:32): I also, along with the other speakers today, commend the member for Fisher for bringing this up. It just goes to show, as the member for Schubert has just indicated, that the young people of our community today are taking far more interest in what has happened over many years. I do not think that anyone understands or appreciates the hardships that these people went through unless they have actually been there.

By the member for Fisher bringing this up and commending the Aberfoyle Park High School and other secondary schools for organising and supporting Western Front study tours, it gives those young people an opportunity to not only see and experience first-hand some of the areas and emotions that people went through, but it also gives them the opportunity to be able to talk to people who were on the other side at those conflicts. It gives a perception of reality and how they actually felt.

It has also been mentioned that there are other ways of remembering what our forefathers have done for us to protect our communities and democracy. There are a lot of ways in which we can do that—not only by going over there and having a look at these things but also we have the local RSLs across our state. In particular, there are a couple of RSLs in my electorate that do a fantastic job of obtaining memorabilia and having it displayed in museums in these communities. Whilst it is not the same feeling, it does give the younger members of our communities and new immigrants coming into our communities an idea of what this country has done throughout the wars. In Port Pirie in particular, the Port Pirie RSL has an absolutely fantastic museum. It has just been awarded an Iroquois helicopter, which it will get in the New Year. We are very proud of getting an Iroquois helicopter to be able to commemorate and show the difference in styles of aircraft from the fifties and sixties up until today.

I also want to commend the young people of our communities because they are taking a much bigger interest in what happened over the many years. They will be disciples and they will talk about the issues and, hopefully, we will not have wars in the future. We will not have to go out and fight. This is a big world, and we should be able to live very comfortably. We should be able to communicate and live happily with each other, but that certainly has not been the case over many years. I commend the member for Fisher for bringing this motion and I congratulate Aberfoyle Park High School and other high schools for doing these study tours.

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (12:35): I would like to speak on this briefly on behalf of some of the schools that I speak to in the northern plains. It is not just the First World War forces but also the ANZAC forces from the Second World War that need this sort of remembrance as well. I urge people to remember that the ANZAC tradition was forged in the First World War, but visiting the gravesites of people who fell in Greece fighting for the freedom of that country is equally important. In fact, many other states include that in their ANZAC remembrances because they were part of an ANZAC corps, and people may not be aware of that.

In 2011 I had the good fortune to represent the then premier in the Battle for Greece and Crete commemorations. In fact, the Western Australian government sent students from high schools to do very similar things to what the member for Fisher is indicating took place. It was deeply moving to see students write up the history of a person from a photo. It was also moving to see how they were profoundly affected by that and also by visiting all the commonwealth war graves around the Mediterranean area, some not so well documented but all under the custodial care of commonwealth war grave units around the world.

Let us remember that there were ANZAC forces in many battles and not just in the First World War, and I would like to see the program include the ANZACs who fell in the Second World War as well.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (12:37): I also support the member for Fisher's motion, as I am sure everybody in this place does, without question. It has been very interesting over the last few years to watch the increasing interest levels of younger people. I believe we have an immense future with our young people in Australia and the interest they are taking in the military history of the nation. It has been quite remarkable.

My own children, who are adults now, had it drummed into them from an early age by my mother. They always attend services and they always take an intense interest. In the next few years we are going to have the Centenary of Gallipoli, which will certainly increase the awareness once again, if it has not already. I would like to go to Gallipoli, but I would actually like to go there when no-one else is around. I have no desire whatsoever to be there on ANZAC Day, but I would like to potter around there for several days. The awareness is amazing.

The member for Reynell talked about Bill Schmitt. I note that Mr Schmitt is about to go here, there and everywhere. Indeed, he is going to Japan. He was a prisoner of the Japanese in Changi, as the member for Reynell mentioned. He is actually going to Japan in the near future, if he is not on his way already. I had the pleasure of meeting Bill several times when I was shadow minister for veterans in another life, and I take a great deal of interest in the veterans in my electorate. I have some 700 on the Fleurieu alone: World War II diggers, Korean, those from the latest conflicts and those from all the other conflicts that have taken place as well. However, the point is that on ANZAC Day and, indeed, on Remembrance Day—and I talk about the service that I am able to attend at Victor Harbor—the President of the Victor Harbor RSL, Dave Miller (a returned man from Vietnam, a returned nasho), organises (he is a former school teacher, so he has got that ability) quite a big group of Victor Harbor High School students and other students from other schools to attend and they are heavily involved in ANZAC Day. I think it is a great thing.

I know that at the ANZAC Day services that I can get to on Kangaroo Island the children attend as well. Particularly with respect to Vietnam Veterans (and I am pretty sure that Dave Miller has done it), I know that David Manser, a mate of mine who won the Military Medal in Vietnam, speaks regularly to school students and enhances their knowledge of what the nation has done and what men mainly, but nowadays women as well, are doing in defence of their nation in their service overseas.

Of course, that really hit home last year when Jamie Larcombe was killed in Afghanistan. That really hit home. His youngest daughter is still at school, but that brought it out even stronger; and, of course, over there with the 170 farmers who came as a result of the war service scheme after World War II, it is something that will never go away. I think that the member for Fisher mentioned—I cannot remember now; someone did—that the subject of Gallipoli comes up all the time. However, in terms of the Western Front, you can go to the Second World War and the battles that took place in Syria and the vast numbers of Australians who died in Bomber Command flying over Europe; and just recently some of our old boys have gone over there in remembrance of that. Also, there were the battles in Gona, Kokoda, Milne Bay, and the list goes on.

I was driving and listening the other day to that Fidler fellow on the ABC at 11 o'clock and he had the author of a book on the Sandakan Death March. I was fascinated to listen to it, and that is something about which we have to keep reminding our children. Indeed, once again there is a connection there because one of the Thomas family from American River died on that march. His last surviving brother died just recently.

It is inherent on us to remind children and generations as they come through because they will be the custodians. It will not be that long—it may be less than 20 years—until all the World War II diggers are gone. We look after something like 10,000 war widows in South Australia at the moment through the Legacy organisation of which I am a member. The younger people coming through have to take up the baton on this.

I think that the member for Fisher has certainly got it at the core of his thinking, and his motion is a good one. There is absolutely no doubt that we must never ever forget the service that our men and women have given to Australia in the past and will do so in the future. It is absolutely at the core of my principles, and whatever else happens that will remain at the core of my principles to remember them. Our family has had a long history of service, as have others in this place, there is no doubt about that whatsoever. We must keep the memory alive, and to put this motion through the parliament is most appropriate. I will always, always defend those who have served Australia—always.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:43): I will conclude, first, by thanking members for their positive comments and support. I will just make a few points. Whilst this motion mentions Aberfoyle Park High, I make clear that there are other high schools doing similar things, and I commend them also. I make members aware, if they are not already aware, that the Premier does support scholarships or travel support for students who wish to attend, and I think that they have to indicate by writing why they want to visit the Western Front.

This year by coincidence we had a student from Aberfoyle Park High who got one of the Premier's travel awards to go to the Western Front and one from Reynella East College, as well; so, in my electorate the two high schools each got one of these student awards. The students who went on the trip with me, none of them are wealthy. Many of them had one or two part-time jobs. They ran chocolate drives and raffles, anything to raise the money. I was very impressed with them—they are passionate about acknowledging the service of people who went before them, serving their country on the Western Front.

I will make a couple of other concluding remarks. No-one wins in wars and, whilst we are focusing on Australians who lost their lives, I am sure the German families and different nationalities—a lot of Indians fought in World War I on the Western Front—and I am sure their mothers cried just as much.

If members have not had the opportunity to read about Sir John Monash, the Australian general was fantastic. He not only was a good general in many respects, he was also a successful one and he made a commitment. He said, 'I am not going to sacrifice the lives of my men on a willy-nilly basis.' He lost a lot fewer than people like Haig who was the British general who did not like getting his boots muddy. I urge members to read about Sir John Monash. Ironically, he was of a Jewish background. His relatives were Prussian, so he was probably fighting distant relatives in his battles and he was very successful at the Battle of Dernancourt and Le Hamel. He introduced a whole lot of innovative military techniques which were very successful and culminated in the success of Dernancourt and Le Hamel.

My late grandfather served with the Royal Engineers. He was in the Somme for two years. How he survived that long, I do not know. It is probably why there is a bit of toughness in our family. Most people did not last two weeks, and anyone who had noticeable officer rank was shot by snipers quick smart.

One of the interesting things is that more than 300 British soldiers were executed by the British for not turning up on time. It was claimed they were deserters. We would now classify a lot of that as post-traumatic stress—young men running off, calling out for their mother and so on. Australia did not allow any discipline like that on our troops, and that followed the experience of Breaker Morant in South Africa. The Australian government would not allow the British to discipline our troops and we certainly did not have people being executed like the British did. One of the cases we looked at was of a young lad who had spent an extra night with his girlfriend, which is understandable when you are young and frisky, and he was one day late getting to his unit, they said that it was desertion and he got executed. During that time of World War I, more than 300 were executed. The Germans did the same, as did the French and the Belgians. They executed anyone who they thought was running off or late, not appearing for service.

It is a different era. There are no winners in war. I do not praise wars. Sometimes you have to defend yourself, and I accept that, but everyone is a loser when it comes to wars. A lot of families here lost wonderful young men in the World War I scenario, as we have in subsequent wars. I read a lot of military history, and we don't ever seem to learn from it and we seem to be repeating some of our mistakes, even in Afghanistan today. I commend this motion and, once again, congratulate Aberfoyle Park High School and the other many high schools that support this program.

Motion carried.

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