\t\t\t\tADDRESS BY HER EXCELLENCY MS QUENTIN BRYCE AC GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.<\/p>\n
ON THE OCCASION OF ANZAC Day COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY, THAILAND 25 APRIL 2011.<\/p>\n
Friends, I am honoured to join you at the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.<\/p>\n
Here we commemorate the lives of those men who gave their today for our tomorrow 1<\/sup> .<\/p>\n Our hearts break as we remember their courage, in the face of extreme torture.<\/p>\n Our brave heroes \u2013 many so young.<\/p>\n Their sacrifices enshrined in these graves; in this serene place that echoes with their suffering.<\/p>\n \u201cSpeedo! Speedo! Speedo! 2<\/sup> \u201d<\/p>\n Frenzied beatings followed barked orders.<\/p>\n They toiled in misery: drilling, blasting and digging through solid rock, in disease ridden and formidable terrain, shivering uncontrollably with malaria, dysentery, cholera, beriberi.<\/p>\n Ugly ulcers wept through filthy rag bandages . 3<\/sup><\/p>\n In the huts, bedridden patients languished three deep, head to foot on unforgiving bamboo slats.<\/p>\n There was no medical equipment.<\/p>\n No drugs, no bedpans, no soap, no disinfectants.<\/p>\n But wonderful dedicated care by Australian doctors, skilled and ingenious.<\/p>\n The best known was \u2018Weary\u2019 Dunlop.<\/p>\n \u201cHis simple, gentle, tenacious leadership still dominates my life today,\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Uren told me yesterday.<\/p>\n Dr Mike Kelly, who sits in our Federal Parliament and whose grandfather, Gunner Joseph Kelly, was at Hellfire Pass, says: \u201cAll that kept them alive was the mutual support they gave each other\u2026their enduring bonds of mateship \u201d4<\/sup>; a smile, a laconic laugh, a gentle whisper. They clung to those special bonds of brotherly love.<\/p>\n Affection, that made the unbearable bearable.<\/p>\n They risked their lives: fleecing guard\u2019s vehicles for tubing to use as cannulas, scrounging for scraps of cloth, leather, rubber, string, wire, nails, screws, tins, to build artificial limbs 5<\/sup><\/p>\n By October 1943, more than 12,300 soldiers had died from illness, overwork, beatings or accidents.<\/p>\n I am privileged to have travelled with four of our countrymen: Mr Alexander Arthurson, Mr Cyril Gilbert, Mr William Schmitt, The Hon. Tom Uren.<\/p>\n And I know others who may also be here today.<\/p>\n All fine, courageous veterans who carry the physical and emotional scars of their own time on the railway.<\/p>\n They join us to honour the 1,362 Australians who rest in peace, in this place; to remember our British, Dutch and other allies, and the labourers from China, India, Malaya, Indonesia and Burma who suffered alongside them.<\/p>\n In the words of Pericles: The whole earth is the tomb of heroic men.<\/p>\n Neither is their name graven only in stone which covers their clay, but abideth everywhere wrought in the stuff of other men\u2019s lives 6<\/sup>.<\/p>\n For many who survived, their recollections are \u201cso clear they almost frighten 2<\/sup> \u201d \u2013<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a blur of continuous work, mates dying, guards bellowing, heavy loads carried, fever in tides of heat and cold, dysentery and hunger.\u201d<\/p>\n A debt of gratitude, respect and love is owed.<\/p>\n Lest we forget.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n References<\/em><\/p>\n Inscription on the memorial at the War Graves Cemetery at Thanbyuzayat, Burma.<\/em><\/p>\n Savage, R. A guest of the Emperor. 2004<\/em><\/p>\n Australians on the Burma-Thailand Railway 1942-43. P. 49. Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs. 2003.<\/em><\/p>\n Dr Mike Kelly. Personal diaries.<\/em><\/p>\n Walker, Allan S. Middle East and Far East \u2018Clinical problems of war\u2019. 1962.<\/em><\/p>\n Pericles honouring the Athenian dead 430 BC<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ADDRESS BY HER EXCELLENCY MS QUENTIN BRYCE AC GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. ON THE OCCASION OF ANZAC Day … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2169,"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/2169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.btrma.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}