ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT REVEREND DR PETER HOLLINGWORTH, AC, OBE,

GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

ON THE OCCASION OF

NATIONAL SERVICE DAY

10 FEBRUARY 2002

Let me begin my remarks by paying a tribute to her Royal Highness the Princess Margaret who passed away in London late yesterday afternoon, our time.

Members of our generation will remember with great affection Princess Margaret as a young child. Together with Princess Elizabeth (now Her Majesty The Queen) we remember them playing together in their matching tartan skirts and jumpers and cardigans.

We remember her in her youth, her happy smile and joy of life. We felt for her in the sadness of some aspects of her personal life.

We remember with great affection her visits to Australia.

She managed to combine a great sense of dedication to her public duties with a great sense of fun.

On behalf of all Australians, I have conveyed our heartfelt sadness at her death to all the members of her family.

May she rest in peace.

National Service Day is a significant occasion for three hundred thousand Australians who served as National Servicemen between 1951 and 1972.

It reflects a deep and solemn recognition of their service to our nation by fellow Australians.

During that service, one hundred and eighty-seven National Servicemen died in Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam and today we will honour them with the presentation to their families of the first Australian National Service Medals.

The front of the new medal carries the image of the tri-service badge, reflecting the fact that  National Servicemen were called up for the Navy, the Army and the Air Force.

On the back is a design incorporating the Southern Cross which is surrounded by a cog wheel. This image is a symbol of service to the nation and the integral part it plays for members of all Australian defence forces.

The medal's ribbon is also striking, with the colours of the three Services combined with bands representing the earth and sky of our land.

The Australian National Service Medal is only the second of its type issued in Australia. The first was for the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in World War One and I know that National Servicemen consider themselves honoured to be in such distinguished company.

Service was very much the contribution Nashos saw themselves as making to Australia.

The 1950s were not the superficial “happy days” portrayed in television programs.

They were also uncertain times in which Australians, like others around the world, rebuilt and re-evaluated in the aftermath of World War Two.

A war was underway in Korea and the threat of nuclear weapons hung heavily.  We had seen the Berlin blockade, the Arab-Israeli War, the Malayan insurgency and the Suez crisis.

Our region was unstable and this was the reason the Australian Government, with bi-partisan support, introduced compulsory military training for all 18-year-old men.

Mothers who had welcomed home fathers just a few years earlier now saw their sons called up for an uncertain future.

But those who were called up regarded National Service as a responsibility to Australia and the training was undertaken with great pride.  I was among them and my time in the National Service was highly formative for me personally.

The two hundred and twenty thousand Nashos of the first intake between 1951 and 1959 did not see action, although detachments were present at the atomic bomb tests at Monte Bello Island and Maralinga.

The second intake, between 1965 and 1972, was conducted by selective ballot. Twenty thousand young men served in Vietnam and forty thousand in support units around Australia.

One hundred and eighty four of these young Australians died in active service and one thousand, four hundred and seventy-nine were wounded.

But National Service has also delivered into Australian national life people who have gone on to achieve and to serve in many fields.

The ranks include my predecessor Bill Hayden, former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, Federal Minister Wilson Tuckey, businessman Lindsay Fox and racing driver Dick Johnson to identify just a few.

The list is long but I think what distinguishes all who served was a belief that we should and could make a contribution to the country we loved.

Today's parade and this service have involved Major James Condon and representatives of the Salvation Army.

Most National Servicemen will be quick to acknowledge the important role played by the chaplains in the armed forces and the Salvation Army in meeting the needs of servicemen and women.

People in service uniform - the D.I.'s, the Adjutants and NCO's ensured we maintained a sense of rigor and discipline - often reinforced by strong words.

The chaplains and Salvation Army officers were of a gentler quality.

Today, above all, we are here to honour those young men who, in service to their nation, made the ultimate sacrifice.

It is fitting that their medals should be the first to be presented, and that the presentation be made on an occasion where all National Servicemen and the nation can share in the enduring grief and the enduring pride we all feel for them and their families.



