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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-05-02 Daily Xml
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ANZAC DAY

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:28): I would like to spend a few minutes talking about ANZAC Day, as the member for Florey did the other day. I know she is a great supporter of the veterans community and I have attended things with her in the past. I would still like to be in that capacity actually but there you go. I would like to talk about what took place in my electorate in the lead-up to ANZAC Day and on ANZAC Day in Victor Harbor.

The ANZAC Day service is a dawn service; however, that is preceded on the Sunday before by, normally speaking, a march and a service and then an RSL lunch down at Hotel Victor at Victor Harbor. This year, fortunately, it was raining. I say 'fortunately' because it was the best possible thing that could happen in my country. We had a wonderful rain, so the service was held inside the RSL clubrooms which are the old Victor Harbor council offices and library.

I commend the Victor Harbor RSL, in particular, for their efforts, including President Mr David Miller, for the way he brings about this day. It is profoundly respectful and, although the numbers of World War II veterans are diminishing slowly, they still come and many of the widows come and, of course, their families. The service was not all that long and afterwards we laid some wreaths inside the building but we went down to the Hotel Victor for lunch. We had about 100 people down there for that lunch. Mr Bill Denny was there, never one to miss a lunch. It was a good occasion.

The guest speaker was Mr David Miller who is a national serviceman and Vietnam veteran. He talked of the impact the Vietnam War had on him and on others as well. He spoke from the heart, and I found it very interesting. It was probably nothing I had not heard before, but it was the first time that I heard Dave actually get it off his chest, so to speak. I asked him, 'How long have you been preparing this speech?' He said, 'Well, I started getting ready in 2008,' so it took him a while to get there.

It was a significant day. Unfortunately, on ANZAC Day I cannot go to everything, but I make it my business to be on Kangaroo Island on ANZAC Day while my mother is still on this earth. The dawn service at Kingscote, with the water lapping gently around the shorelines, had a profound effect on everybody, I think. There were hundreds of people there, and it was very capably organised by another Vietnam veteran, Mr David Mancer MM, who actually served with Dave Miller; these people do not go away.

After that service, they have a breakfast. I then went off to Parndarna, to the heart of the war settler land scheme country, where the Parndarna community from numbers years ago of around six, seven, or eight have built up to 150 this year. Wreaths were laid by three of the returned servicemen from the Second World War: Mr Des Johnson, Mr Dean Stanton and Mr Ken McWhinnie. Mr McWhinnie, incidentally, is the sole surviving soldier settler still on his property. He is well into his 80s and he still goes surfing. It was a good occasion out there. One of the old diggers had a few words to me afterwards about some pension handouts, which he thought they were deserving of, but I am not going to get too involved in that.

I returned to Kingscote for the main march and service. We had good numbers, and I think all members of parliament, regardless of where they come from, observe every year an increase in numbers, particularly of the younger people who are in attendance. Once again Mr Mancer organised all that. I took the salute with the mayor of Kangaroo Island in the main street and then went down to the service at the cross of remembrance.

It is a significant day. In my view, it is the most important day in Australia by far, far in advance of Australia Day. I just wish sometimes that people would call it a commemoration and not a celebration. It irks me that there are those who call it a celebration; it has never been a celebration. Indeed, it is a commemoration and should always be so. I think that is something that we need to broaden people's education on, but it is very good that we continue to see this growth in numbers and people recognising the importance of the sacrifice that Australians have made.

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