Thursday, 21 March 2024

Fred Cullen

Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Minister for Police, Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Racing) (09:50): I rise to give thanks for the life of Mr Fred Cullen OAM. His was a grand life of service, warmth and compassion and he reached the age of 102. He was a former member of the RSL state executive and state council, former long-time president of the Ivanhoe sub-branch, tireless advocate for veterans and war widows and an outstanding appeals collector for over 60 years. He had RSL life membership, received a meritorious service level in 2002 and was made an Order of Australia in 1991.

Fred served in World War II with the 4th Field Regiment Royal Australian Artillery, serving in New Guinea until he was discharged in 1947. Fred also suffered a fractured skull when he was shot in the head by a Japanese sniper at Shaggy Ridge, and the world-renowned plastic surgeon Sir Benjamin Rank patched up Fred at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, where of course he went on to meet his wife. Hundreds gathered at the Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Ivanhoe to farewell Fred, including CPSU branch secretary Karen Batt and Dr Robert Webster OAM, state president of RSL Victoria.

Fred until he was well into his 90s would get the train from Ivanhoe or Eaglemont to sell badges and poppies at Parliament station, raising over $1.2 million over so many decades. Even when a fire destroyed the Ivanhoe RSL just before Anzac Day in 2017, Fred was there selling badges and selling poppies. There is no-one else like Fred, and we are really going to miss him. Vale, Freddie. He was one of a kind.