Page 1773 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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to represent the people of the ACT at a number of events over Anzac Day this year. It started at the national ceremony, where I represented the Chief Minister and laid a wreath on behalf of the people of the ACT. The national ceremony is particularly important on that day; it gives veterans and their families the chance to march and to be acknowledged by the Governor-General, and in this case also the New Zealand Ambassador. It was a moving ceremony, with the Governor-General providing his final Anzac Day address in that role.
From there I attended the ceremony at the French Embassy, where I was again privileged to lay a wreath on behalf of all Canberrans. We heard moving speeches from the French Ambassador and others on the closeness of the bonds between Australia and France that have grown since the First World War and how grateful they are to Australia and Australians for what we did in France.
It was also great to hear from Joseph Zimet, the director-general of the centenary partnership program, and to be there for the launch of their new program to help preserve and share the history and stories of the connection between France and Australia in the First World War. This is to ensure that the stories of what occurred during that time are both preserved and actively shared.
Following that, I attended the last post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial. We heard the story of Sergeant Charles Backman, who was killed in action in Gallipoli. We heard how he landed on the beaches in the early waves on the first day of that operation but that his body was never found. His name is memorialised at the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli.
It was a day of sombre reflection; reflection on how we should remember those who died more than a century ago, on how we should honour their memories and how we should honour those who have served since then and those who are still serving, as well as the families who support them. It was, indeed, an honour that I had in my role as minister for veterans.
ACT Heritage Library
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (6.12): I rise today to speak about the ACT Heritage Library, which I visited recently as part of the Heritage Festival specifically to see the space exhibit that they have on at the moment. The Heritage Library has recently moved from Woden to Fyshwick. They have some lovely new facilities. The space exhibit specifically showcases one of the important moments in our city’s history, when we were part of an international endeavour to put a person on the surface of the moon and, indeed, we played such an important role in that.
Many of the items and the artefacts provided to the exhibit at the Heritage Library in Fyshwick were provided by ex-tracking station employees, including Mike Dinn and John Saxon. It was wonderful to see the items, many of which I had seen before from my own work out at the tracking station. It was great to see them again and see the way they were combined with other items within the Heritage Library’s collection.
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