POSTAGE SURFACE PAID ~ MAIL AUSTRALIA LISTENING THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE RETURNED & SEF\VICES LEAGUE WA BRANCH (INCORPORATED) PATRON: THE GOVERNOR OF WESTERN PO BOX Y3023 AUSTRALIA HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR EAST ST. GEORGES TCE, PERTH, WA 6832 POST GENERAL MICHAEL JEFFERY AO MC AUTUMN, 1996 Registered by Australi. n No. PP607128/00001 VOL. 19, No. 1 - PRICE $1 ANZAC DAY PARADE * AsseJDbley Are~s :Inside LEST WE FORGET .: Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs HELP FOR VETERANS The Department of Veterans• Affairs recognises that Veterans and War Widows want to remain independent and in their own homes for as long as possible. The Department has several programmes that will give infonnation and help you use local community services t-:» maintain your independence: • Advice about your local community • Day Club De\i.elopment • Joint Ventures Programme • Volunteer Support Programme • Respite Care Assistance • Carer Support Programme • Hostel Development Programm1e • Health Promotion Programme • Financial Information Service The Department continues to provide a wide. range of benefits including pensions. allowances and health care. If yo~ want ·to kno:w·more please call the Veterans• Affairs Net,.~rork . 3668444·. Country Callers Toll Free· 1800 , ~ 13304 HB 3(,Q .L / 5 LISTENING POST Contents Page PRESIDENTS MESSAGE 3 Publhben Re111med .t Services League W.A. Branch (IDcorporated) Anzac Howe P.O. Box Y3023, ASSEMBLY AREAS ANZAC DAY 7 28 St Gecqes Terrace East St Georges Tenacc Perth. W.A. 6000 . P«th, W.A. 6832 LOCAL HEROES HONOURED 9 Tel: 325 9799 Fax: 325 7432 FROM THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT 13 AUSTRALIA-THAILAND MEM. PROJECT 31 REUNIONS 48 VETERANS' AFFAIRS 49 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 51 BOOK REVIEWS 54 LOST TRAILS 57 Editorial EdltorfChalnniiJ: Mr W.J. Surridge SUB-BRANCH NEWS 59 DeputyI MrG. Tuner WOMEN'S AUXILIARY 63 . Committee: Mrs B.H. Clinton, Mrs. D.J. Dowson, Mrs A. Keynes, Messrs J. Brigden, UNIT ASSOCIATIONS 65 T.K. Uoyd, P.White Co-opCed Memben LAST POST 72 Messrs E. Hiochliffe, R.D. Mercer, K.J. Morrison, L.J. Oweos Sub-Editor Mrs Pat Elphinftone . Deadlines for Listening Post Contributions Advertisers 31 Juuuy for Autumn Edition 30 April for Winter Edition Westraliu Publishers, 31 July for 17 Cador Court, ' Sprill8 Edition 31 October for Summer Edition Carine, W .A.6020 ( Tel: 246 5776, Fax: 246 S718 If possible submissions should be typed, doubled spaced. Typesettlng/Composing Photographs can be black and white or colour glossy. Action Preu, 101 Catherioe Street, This is your journal and contributions are welcome Morley, W.A. 6062 . and should be addressed to: Tel: 276 S266 The Editor Printer Listening Post Swuweb, RSL 102 Bunimr Road, P.O. Box Y3023 Cuniog Vale, W.A. 61SS East St Georges Thrrace Tel: 4SS 3788 COVER: War Memorial Kiii8S Park, Perth Opinion expresaed by oontrllUiora In articles and raprodlloed articles are Courtesy: the ndMdull oplillore of IUCh c:ombltors or the authors of such The West repro<lJced articles (as the c:ae ~) and no1 neceesarty lhoell of the Aumaliu Reprodudlon of artlclee (or extracta) CO!Uined In Listening POIIt Is welcomed pnMdad the eource 11 acknoWledged. ~ . latenlng Poat - Autumn 1996 - Page 1 Sr-fRENGTH al~ost IT'S A FACT th.at for 70 YEARS, We're proud of the fact .that, in these turbulent GJ.O Australia has been looking after the insurance times, we can point to an enviable record of stabjlity. and financial needs of its customers. Our senior management has been in place for over We believe we have a history of being straight­ I 0 YEARS and changes are always made ,by forward, honest and open in our business dealings evolution rather than revolution. Dealing with a because that's the way things ought to be do~e. company that has the numbers on the board adds up Since our successful privatisation 3 YEARS ago, to a s trong sense of security for our customers. GIO Australia has gone from strengt~ to, strength. If you' re disillusioned with financial groups who Throughout Australia, over 2 • 2MILLION homes, don't seem to be able to find the right balance cars, boats, businesses and people are between products, services, people now insured by GIO Australia. and profits, it's time you contacted Over 200,000 GIO Australia. While we're talking customers have also taken advantage numbers, a very important one is of our very competitive range of sav- IN 13 10 10. That's the ings, investment and home or business number that keeps our customers in loan products. GIO Australia now manages some touch with us, to allow us to . best service their 4 BILLION dollars of personal investment funds and insurance, investment and finance needs. provides over I 'BILLION llollars of residential and And that's the way it' ought to be. business loans. _ We are also one of the TOP 50 public companies in the country, with more than AUSTRALIA J 0 BILLION dollars in assets under management and around JO 0 0 0 0 SHAREHOLDERS. ~e way it oU:ght to f!e ' Page 2- Listening Post- Autumn 1996 State President's Message • t • . As I write this message we have ·just witnessed Australia Day celebrations wheo, once more, the media have concentrated on how this, our day, is not a day for each· and every Australian. It seemed to give credence to certain minori, ty gr(;>ups and public figures withih the Australian society to again start criticis, ing our flag be~~e it contains the Union Jack, which these people keep trying to convince Australians that the only reason we keep the Union Jack within our flag is bee;ause we are still subservient to the United Kingdom. Like any other country's flag, ours is a symbol: a symbol which speaks for the nation's history and soul. One could say that when the flag is unfurled it tells' of the birth, the growth, the trials, the glories and the hopes of the people who fly it. Our flag symbolises the truth that the overwhelming majority of the people who explored, pioneered and developed Australia were of English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish backgrounds and that every aspect of cultural, social, constitu, tiona.l, legal and religious life had its roots in the United Kingdom. The symbolism of the Union Jack is Christian, high, Our flag has been part of our history since 1901 and lighting that the majority of Australians were is Australia. It doesn't represent any other country. Christian, and still are today. The three Christian Our Anzacs in Gallipoli, who fought under this flag, crosses represent St George, patron saint of England; did not feel they were searching for a 'new identity'. St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland and St Patrick, The Australian flag flew proudly over HMAS Sydney patron saint of Ireland. As has been stressed even by as she defeated the German ship Emden in World non,British writers, British constitutional and legal War I. developments to a high degree reflected. the Christian concept concerning the uniqueness , and therefore the The first allied flag raised in Singapore immediately rights and duties , of each individual. following the Japanese surrender in 1945 was an Australian flag made in secret by the Australian pris, This flag represents our national heritage. Any per, oners,of,war. In two world wars, in Korea, in Malaya; sons who attack our flag are in fact not attacking the in Borneo and in Vietnam, Australians fought against symbol itself, but are attacking our history and tradi, totalitar.ianism under the symbol of the Australian tions for which this flag stands. A flag is meant to be National Flag. It is this flag which truly symbolises an enduring national symbol, not something that is to ·Australia's real heritage and which has been so closely be changed every time some person or persons don't associated with everything worthwhile in Australian like the look of it, or want to change it for political history. reasons We know the reasons behind the recent cam, paign to change our flag, yet our politicians do not One factor which has prevented the Government from proclaiming a new flag as easily as it acted with have t:he intestinal fortitude to hold l! referendum. our anthem and the national colours is that it is pro, Look at Canada when its flag was changed without a tected, to some extent, by the Flags Act (1953 ). Any< referendum. That flag change was at the whim of the change would have to be by an amendment in politicians to appease a minority group, the French Parliament, with all the resultant debate and publicity. Canadians. These people now prefer to fly the flettNle :.. The initial push for a change has been halted. lys of France, another country. Undoubtedly, without the fine work of the Flag The critics of our flag continue to argue that our flag Associations across the nation, Australia might well does not represent the Aboriginal people or our ethnic have had imposed on it a new flag by now. However, community (the politically correct word to describe there is ho ro~m for complacency during this next our immigrants). What a lot of rubbish. I su~gest thes~ decade as we approach the centenary of our Federation anti,Australian flag people check their history. The and the Centenary of our flag's birth , the year 2001. Aboriginal people never had a flag to represent their The~e will be stronger TJlOves to make Australia a culture, yet in the Australian flag is the Southern republic, with the additional rider: ''When we become Cross, which plays a central role in Aboriginal mythol, a republic, we'll need a new flag''.