Victoria Cross recipients George Howell, Walter Brown and Bede Kenny in Sydney in 1926. AWM2016.388.1.5
Opinion: Taking time to reflect on courage and sacrifice
GUY BARNETT MHA | IN an adjournment speech to parliament on May 4, reflecting on Anzac Day I paid tribute to prisoners of war, who are the forgotten members of the Australian Defence Force and indeed of any defence force. I paid tribute to Corporal Walter Brown VC, and thanked RSL Tasmania president Mike Gallagher and chief executive officer John Hardy and all the RSL sub-branches across Tasmania for hosting and organising those Anzac Day services for and on behalf of us across Tasmania and across this great country, Australia.
It was a privilege for me on this occasion to commemorate Anzac Day and participate in the Anzac Day service with the laying of a wreath in Singapore. I was leading a trade and investment mission on behalf of the Tasmanian Government, together with the delegation in Singapore and Indonesia, and on this occasion at the Changi war memorial in Singapore. I thank the High Commissioner for New Zealand for leading the service, Gabrielle Rush, and the High Commissioner for Australia to Singapore, Allaster Cox, who shared a beautiful poem in honour of our prisoners of war during World War II in Singapore.
Paraphrasing some of the remarks I shared in Singapore, Anzac Day is a time to reflect on the courage in the face of hardship, on the sacrifice given freely and on the spirit that endures long after conflict has passed. Anzac Day started on April 25, 1915, at Gallipoli in Turkey. Now, Anzac Day extends to all who have served, suffered and sacrificed in the name of duty and country.
In Singapore, for me on this occasion, it was particularly profound. In 1942, following the fall of Singapore, more than 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders were captured and taken as prisoners of war, in addition to the 65,000 British, Indians and others. Many of them would go on to endure the brutal conditions of captivity across the region, including forced labour, starvation, illness and uncertainty.
My own connection to this history was through my great uncle Laurie Thyne from Launceston, who was in the 2nd/40th Battalion. Like many in that battalion, he went and fought in Dutch Timor, was captured within a week and then landed in Singapore soon after as a prisoner of war. Uncle Laurie endured, like so many others, the brutal conditions that defined not only Singapore but also the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway.
I’ve had the privilege of taking part in an Anzac Day service with my wife there in 2010, together with other members of the federal parliament at the time. That Anzac Day dawn service at Hellfire Pass on the railway was quiet. It was confronting and it certainly brings into focus the resilience, the mateship and determination of those who endured it. It was an honour, not just for those who fell in battle, but those who endured captivity. In the face of cruelty, there was courage; in the depth of suffering, there was mateship; and then in the shadow of despair, there remained hope.
Victoria Cross recipients including Wally Brown, third from left, meeting the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) in 1920. AWM P08428.001
That same Anzac spirit, of course, lives with us today. In terms of countless acts of service across our history, one such story is that of Corporal Walter Brown of New Norfolk, who served in the 20th Battalion. Fighting in Villers-Bretonneux in France in July 1918, he charged an enemy position under heavy fire and forced the surrender of a German party consisting of 12 men. For this extraordinary act of bravery, he received the Victoria Cross, but his service did not end there.
Guy Barnett, left, with Australian High Commissioner Allaster Cox, alongside the inscription to Walter Brown VC in Singapore.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Brown enlisted again. He was 54 but said he was 39, and he re-enlisted. Shortly before the fall of Singapore, he was last seen walking towards the enemy in Singapore with a grenade in both hands, reportedly saying words to the effect that he would not surrender. He was never seen again. His body was never found, but he is commemorated at the War Memorial in Singapore and it was a pleasure and an honour to reflect on his sacrifice and service in Singapore.
Guy Barnett is deputy premier and one of the seven state members for Lyons.New Norfolk and Derwent Valley News invites each Lyons MP to write for the paper on a regular basis.
Opinion: Taking time to reflect on courage and sacrifice
GUY BARNETT MHA |
IN an adjournment speech to parliament on May 4, reflecting on Anzac Day I paid tribute to prisoners of war, who are the forgotten members of the Australian Defence Force and indeed of any defence force. I paid tribute to Corporal Walter Brown VC, and thanked RSL Tasmania president Mike Gallagher and chief executive officer John Hardy and all the RSL sub-branches across Tasmania for hosting and organising those Anzac Day services for and on behalf of us across Tasmania and across this great country, Australia.
It was a privilege for me on this occasion to commemorate Anzac Day and participate in the Anzac Day service with the laying of a wreath in Singapore. I was leading a trade and investment mission on behalf of the Tasmanian Government, together with the delegation in Singapore and Indonesia, and on this occasion at the Changi war memorial in Singapore. I thank the High Commissioner for New Zealand for leading the service, Gabrielle Rush, and the High Commissioner for Australia to Singapore, Allaster Cox, who shared a beautiful poem in honour of our prisoners of war during World War II in Singapore.
Paraphrasing some of the remarks I shared in Singapore, Anzac Day is a time to reflect on the courage in the face of hardship, on the sacrifice given freely and on the spirit that endures long after conflict has passed. Anzac Day started on April 25, 1915, at Gallipoli in Turkey. Now, Anzac Day extends to all who have served, suffered and sacrificed in the name of duty and country.
In Singapore, for me on this occasion, it was particularly profound. In 1942, following the fall of Singapore, more than 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders were captured and taken as prisoners of war, in addition to the 65,000 British, Indians and others. Many of them would go on to endure the brutal conditions of captivity across the region, including forced labour, starvation, illness and uncertainty.
My own connection to this history was through my great uncle Laurie Thyne from Launceston, who was in the 2nd/40th Battalion. Like many in that battalion, he went and fought in Dutch Timor, was captured within a week and then landed in Singapore soon after as a prisoner of war. Uncle Laurie endured, like so many others, the brutal conditions that defined not only Singapore but also the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway.
I’ve had the privilege of taking part in an Anzac Day service with my wife there in 2010, together with other members of the federal parliament at the time. That Anzac Day dawn service at Hellfire Pass on the railway was quiet. It was confronting and it certainly brings into focus the resilience, the mateship and determination of those who endured it. It was an honour, not just for those who fell in battle, but those who endured captivity. In the face of cruelty, there was courage; in the depth of suffering, there was mateship; and then in the shadow of despair, there remained hope.
That same Anzac spirit, of course, lives with us today. In terms of countless acts of service across our history, one such story is that of Corporal Walter Brown of New Norfolk, who served in the 20th Battalion. Fighting in Villers-Bretonneux in France in July 1918, he charged an enemy position under heavy fire and forced the surrender of a German party consisting of 12 men. For this extraordinary act of bravery, he received the Victoria Cross, but his service did not end there.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Brown enlisted again. He was 54 but said he was 39, and he re-enlisted. Shortly before the fall of Singapore, he was last seen walking towards the enemy in Singapore with a grenade in both hands, reportedly saying words to the effect that he would not surrender. He was never seen again. His body was never found, but he is commemorated at the War Memorial in Singapore and it was a pleasure and an honour to reflect on his sacrifice and service in Singapore.
Guy Barnett is deputy premier and one of the seven state members for Lyons. New Norfolk and Derwent Valley News invites each Lyons MP to write for the paper on a regular basis.
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