Tuesday, 10 September 2019

 Mr O’DONOHUE (Eastern Victoria) (13:29): Eighty years and one week ago the then Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, said:

Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of the persistence of Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war.

And we know the tragic consequences that flowed and the enormous loss of life that the world suffered as a result of that war.

I want to highlight the sacrifice of a now-deceased constituent, Christopher James ‘Christie’ Johnstone, OAM, a local of Flinders, who enlisted in the Second World War. I had the privilege of reading a book by Bill Clancy, AM, on Christie Johnstone’s life and particularly his service in the Second World War. He grew up on a dairy farm in Flinders, and this is a window into the history of the Mornington Peninsula in fact. He went on to be a stretcher-bearer, serving in North Africa, particularly in the Battle of El Alamein, and in Papua New Guinea. He saved hundreds of lives in his service, including enemy combatants, and he went on to serve as secretary of the Flinders RSL for decades. I congratulate the Flinders District Historical Society for their publication of this book and the Flinders RSL for their support of veterans on that part of the Mornington Peninsula, in particular president Tony Stafford and the executive.