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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-16 Daily Xml
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Remembrance Day

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:53): It is fantastic to have a huge audience here for our grievance debate today, which is a bit different from the usual, when we are really just talking for the record.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I understand they are giving marks out of 10, so get moving.

Mr PICTON: Do not worry, I am sure we will get to what you are here to listen to a bit later on. What I particularly want to note in the house today is that late last week we marked Remembrance Day on 11 November. This year, there were three important events in my electorate to mark Remembrance Day. As I do every year, I spent the morning with the very good veterans at the Port Noarlunga Christies Beach RSL Club at Port Noarlunga, where there was yet another moving ceremony to mark the occasion.

The ceremony was well attended by a range of different veterans and community groups as well as the police, firefighters and ambulance officers. It was also very positive to see representatives of local schools attend; in particular Christies Beach Primary School and Cardijn College sent delegations along to lay wreaths and take part in the ceremony.

Thank you to president Steve McInnes, and also all the members and executive at the RSL club for putting on a fantastic occasion to mark Remembrance Day. I should also note it was the last occasion for Father Dirk van Dissel from the local Anglican church, St Francis of Assisi, who always presides over services at the RSL club and often invites me and the member for Reynell to host his quiz nights at the church. He is retiring later this year, so this was the last occasion for him to preside over.

Secondly, at the same time (and therefore I was unable to attend but was able to send a representative from my staff) there was a ceremony at Seaford Secondary College to open their new memorial wall they have been able to establish on the school grounds to mark the centenary of ANZAC. This is a fantastic display of artwork that students have been involved in right from the very beginning. It is really going to be a great marker to teach those new generations about the spirit of ANZAC and the service of our veterans over the last 100 years and more. Full credit in particular to the art teacher, Ian McGregor, who has given up countless hours to work to see this project become a reality, and also the organising committee, which I understand involves a large number of students and teachers at the school. Congratulations to all of them.

Thirdly, along with the member for Reynell, as well as the federal member for Kingston, Amanda Rishworth, and a lot of local councillors, on the weekend I was at the Fleurieu Peninsula Family History Group event where they launched their book, World War I ANZACs of the Fleurieu Peninsula: Stories from Pioneer Families. An amazing amount of work has been put into collecting and publishing the stories of those World War I veterans who came from throughout the Fleurieu Peninsula, when electorates like mine, which are now largely suburbia, were at that time very small towns.

Towns like Aldinga, Port Noarlunga and Old Noarlunga were very small but, as per everywhere across the country, there was a great sacrifice of people willing to put up their hands to join the effort in Europe at that time during World War I. To get these stories down on paper and published is a fantastic achievement. There was a number of different veterans who were marked, including Lance Corporal Marshall Way, Private Arthur Mills, Temporary Bombardier Andrew Scott, Cadet Corporal Madeline Pudney, Cadet James Hill and Cadet Lance Corporal Corbin Donovan, whose stories were told to us and are all collected in that book.

A huge thank you to the ANZAC commemoration project committee, all volunteer historians in the local area: Kath Fisher, Jan Lokan, Judy Dowling, Lynette Gibson, Jenny Chapman, Mary Ann Minor, Joan Davies, Joy Nieass, Ros Dunstall, Heather Boyce and Kerry Edwards. They all contributed hugely to this book. Thank you as well to the 40 Army Cadets Noarlunga and their officer in charge, Darren Smedley, for their contribution to the beautiful service at the Port Noarlunga Arts Centre on the weekend, as well as all the Banner Party Cadets who played such an important role in that ceremony.

Mr KNOLL: Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to draw your attention to the state of the house.

A quorum having been formed:

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