Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Pascoe Vale electorate veterans

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (19:19): (656) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Veterans, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide an update on the investments the Victorian government has been making to commemorate the service and sacrifices of our veterans across my community. The sacrifices of generations of service men and women in our veterans community have played a fundamental role in helping us create and protect our largely peaceful and harmonious way of life, which we must never forget nor take for granted. At the heart of our veterans service and at the heart of our nation’s soul is very much the Anzac spirit. I recently had the privilege of taking part in the Victorian parliamentary delegation to Türkiye to pay respects to our very first Anzacs, marking the 109th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings on the very shores where the Anzac legend was born. Amongst the 8700 Australians who lost their lives at Gallipoli over the eight-month campaign from April to December of 1915, there are at least 62 servicemen who made the ultimate sacrifice from my community who remain buried on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

I had the absolute honour of visiting the final resting places of 11 of these local veterans to pay my respects on behalf of our local community and to ensure their memories are never forgotten. For the record they included Sapper Harold Evelyn Baxter, 23 years old, of Coburg, killed 13 June, buried at Beach Cemetery; Private Garnet Albert-Roy Brooks, 18 years old, of Brunswick, killed 13 October, buried at Shrapnel Valley; Lance Corporal Gordon Peter Cameron, 24 years old, of Brunswick, killed 12 July; Private John William Eric Cox, 22 years old, of Brunswick, killed 3 November, buried at Shrapnel Valley; Private John Thomas Hancher, 23 years old, of Brunswick, killed 8 May, buried at Redoubt Cemetery; Lance Corporal Leslie Hart, 18 years old, of Brunswick, killed 4 May, buried at Beach Cemetery; Private Thomas Enoch Haylock, 31 years old, of Coburg, killed 12 October, buried at Shrapnel Valley; Trooper John Thomas Leonard, age unknown, of Brunswick, killed 30 May, buried at Ari Burnu Cemetery; Private Frank Anthony O’Loghlen, 19 years old, of Brunswick, killed 16 September, buried at Shrapnel Valley; Trooper Frederick Joseph Smith, age unknown, of Brunswick, killed 7 August, buried at Ari Burnu Cemetery; and Private Douglas William Thompson, age unknown, of Brunswick, killed 20 May, buried at Beach Cemetery. In their memory I echo the deep words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours … You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

I look forward to receiving the minister’s response so I can share it with the Coburg RSL, Pascoe Vale RSL and particularly the younger generations of my community so their memory can live on. I thank the Minister for Veterans for leading the delegation, all the parliamentary colleagues from both sides who took part, Michael Pianta from the Coburg RSL and Les Mananov from Veteran Scarves, who provided us with the scarves and the ties we wore proudly. I thank the Turkish ambassador to Australia Ufuk Gezer and the Turkish consul general to Melbourne Doğan Ferhat Işık for their efforts to facilitate the delegation.