May 2011
Kangaroo Valley bowling club was again our venue for our April Luncheon.
Our speaker this month was Simon Harrington who moved to the valley a few years ago after retiring from 40 years of service in the Australian Navy.
A communications specialist he worked in operations, personnel and force development billets. He commanded the frigates HMAS CANBERRA and HMAS ADELAIDE and the Naval College at Jervis Bay, HMAS CRESSWELL.
Promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1997 he became Support Commander (Navy).
His final Navy posting was Defence Attache in Washington DC. Simon was in Washington in 2001 when the September 11 attacks occurred.
In 2003 he was appointed to the Repatriation Commission in Veterans’ Affairs where he worked for three and a half years.
In that time he was responsible for many national commemorative occasions including the 60th Anniversary of WW2 and the 40th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
He also led numerous overseas commemorative missions where veterans returned to significant battle sites and paid respect to their fallen comrades.
Since leaving the Commission he has occasionally been asked by DVA to undertake other commemorative work, including being MC at Lone Pine on Anzac Day 2008 and attending Anzac Day ceremonies on the Kokoda Track in 2009 and 2010.
Simon’s most interesting talk was on
Anzac Day Ceremonies, especially those celebrated at Gallipolli and Kokoda.
There was some controversy as to when and where Anzac Day ceremonies actually commenced. Some say it started in Towoomba in Queensland where some old diggers would clean and maintain the graves of fallen soldiers and then have a short service of remembrance. However, the more accepted version is that dawn services started in Albany WA in 1919.
The Federal Government (Dept Of Veterans Affairs) holds services in special places such as Long Tan in Vietnam, Gallipolli in Turkey and Kokoda in New Guinea and the Korean Memorial in Washington DC.
Ceremonies are held at a number of other locations around the world including France and a dawn service at Hellfire Pass in Thailand.
Even Australian Navy ships at sea stop to hold a dawn service and remember the lives of those that have been lost.
Twice Simon has attended the Anzac Day ceremonies on the Kokoda Track at Isurava.
To get there you either fly in at the end of the Track and walk nine hours to Isurava, or, start at the beginning of the Track and walk for six to seven days. Either way it is a very difficult walk. The ceremony is different because everyone, even the official party is dressed in trekking gear. The New Guinea porters sing and when Simon was there one trekker carried his bugle so he could play the Last Post- very moving.
The history of the Dawn Service at Gallipolli at Lone Pine Cemetery is interesting as its popularity increases. Originally the service was held at Ari Burnu until 2000. This area held a maximum of 5,000 people so when numbers grew beyond that the service was moved to North Beach, catering for 20,000 people.
Most of the year North Beach looks like a beautiful deserted South Coast NSW beach with huge cliffs rising from the sand. During the days before and after Anzac Day it looks like an outdoor concert area.
At this time the area has security,
alcohol is banned, everyone receives a ‘showbag’ with necessities and they
must take their rubbish away with them.
There are beautiful sunsets as the sun sinks over the Aegean Sea. The days are warm but it can get very cold at night and there is a rug merchant who does a roaring trade selling rugs to those who are cold. After the dawn service at North Beach people can walk up to the Lone Pine Cemetery and attend a service at 10 am.
From there they can go further up the hill to the Turkish memorial service, then onto the New Zealand service at 12 noon, a distance of 10 km one way.
This walk is part of the Artillery Road.
Simon’s talk was presented with photos and maps.
It finished at Albany WA and “Lest we forget”.
We thank Simon very much for giving his time to us and for sharing his interesting stories.
I thank Barbara Bloom for taking notes of the Simon’s talk as I was unable to attend this lunch.
Our next luncheon meeting is on Friday 13th May at 11.30 am for 12 noon .at the Kangaroo Valley Bowling Club.
Our guest speaker will be Les Mitchell
who will speak on the
‘Natural Environment of Kangaroo Valley’.
Please phone Jan Starkey on 4465 2080 or email jjstarkey42@bigpond.com by 6 pm on the Wednesday before the meeting if you are unable to attend.
It is necessary for us to provide the caterer with accurate numbers for our luncheon otherwise the club will be charged.
We invite and welcome anyone who is interested to attend our luncheon.
Please phone Margaret McLachlan 4465 1946 for details.
Jeannette Dumbrell
Publicity Officer