SPEECH BY SEN. THE HON. A.T. GIETZELT  ' Â·  MINISTER FOR VETERANS’  AFFAIRS

ACCEPTING A SEA FURY AIRCRAFT  ON BEHALF OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

FROM THE NATIONAL BUILDING TECHNOLOGY CENTRE

10.30AM WEDNESDAY 6 AUGUST 1986

GOOD MORNING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

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I AM DELIGHTED TO BE HERB THIS MORNING TO RECEIVE THIS AIRCRAFT FROM

MY COLLEAGUE AND GOOD FRIEND STEWART WEST ON BEHALF OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR

MEMORIAL.

THE SEA FURY IS A SIGNIFICANT ADDITION TO THE MEMORIAL’S COLLECTION OF

MILITARY AIRCRAFT - BEING THE ONLY EXAMPLE OF AN AUSTRALIAN CARRIER-BORNE

AIRCRAFT FLOWN IN COMBAT.

I AM TOLD THAT IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE FEW REMAINING AIRCRAFT OF ITS TYPE IN

AUSTRALIA, AS VERY FEW ESCAPED THE WRECKER’S TORCH WHEN THE NAVY

DECOMMISSIONED THEM IN THE 1960s.

THE WAR MEMORIAL PLANS TO RESTORE THIS HISTORIC FIGHTER TO FLYING

CONDITION, WHICH I AM SURE WILL PLEASE THE PLANE’S FORMER PILOT, COMMANDER

NAT GOULD, AS WELL AS THE MANY THOUSANDS WHO VISIT THE MEMORIAL TO SEE ITS

COLLECTION OF MILITARY TECHNOLOGY.

THE WAR MEMORIAL EXISTS TO COMMEMORATE AUSTRALIANS WHO HAVE DIED AS A

RESULT OF ACTIVE SERVICE OR AS A RESULT OF ANY WAR IN WHICH AUSTRALIANS

HAVE PARTICIPATED. IT ALSO STUDIES THE IMPACT OF WAR ON AUSTRALIAN

SOCIETY.

IT IS NOT JUST A MUSEUM, BUT INCLUDES COLLECTIONS OF ART AND

HISTORICAL MATERIAL WHICH CATALOGUE AUSTRALIANS’  CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE

VARIOUS WARS SINCE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT OF THIS COUNTRY.

I BELIEVE THAT IT IS THE BREADTH OF THIS COLLECTION, FROM ART TO MILITARY

TECHNOLOGY, THAT MAKES THE MEMORIAL SO POPULAR TO VISITORS TO THE NATIONAL

CAPITAL. HAVING COLLECTIONS THAT APPEAL TO MANY DIFFERENT INTERESTS MEANS

THAT AUSTRALIA’S ROLE IN WAR CAN BE MORE WIDELY UNDERSTOOD IN THE

COMMUNITY.

ONCE AUSTRALIANS WENT OFF TO WAR BLINDLY. LAST YEAR, WHEN I WAS IN TURKEY

AT THE CEREMONY TO NAME ANZAC COVE, A.TURKISH GALLIPOLI VETERAN ASKED AN

AUSTRALIAN WHY WE HAD INVADED HIS HOMELAND. THE AUSTRALIAN COULD ONLY

REPLY ,"I DON’T KNOW".

NOW TELEVISION BRINGS WARS INTO OUR LOUNGEROOMS AND ALSO MAKES US MORE

AWARE OF STRUGGLES AND CONFLICTS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.

TODAY IS HIROSHIMA DAY. FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO TODAY THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB

WAS DROPPED FROM A BOMBER ON A JAPANESE CITY, TOTALLY DEVASTATING OVER 4

SQUARE MILES IN AREA AND KILLING OR INJURING ABOUT 160,000 PEOPLE. MANY

MORE HAVE SINCE DIED FROM THE EFFECTS OF RADIATION.' t .

IN ACCEPTING THIS FIGHTER BOMBER ON BEHALF OF THE WAR MEMORIAL, I LOOK

FORWARD TO THE DAY THAT ALL OUR BOMBERS ARE MERELY ON DISPLAY TO REMIND US

OF THE DESTRUCTION OF WAR.

IT IS GRATIFYING THAT THIS BOMBER AT LEAST HAS BEEN USEFULLY EMPLOYED TO

THE COMMUNITY’S BETTERMENT IN TESTING BUILDING MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES,

RATHER THAN IN DESTROYING WHAT PEOPLE OF OTHER NATIONS HAVE PAINSTAKINGLY

BUILT.

IT WILL BE A POPULAR, SIGNIFICANT AND MOST WELCOME EXHIBIT AMONG THE

MEMORIAL’S FINE COLLECTION OF AIRCRAFT..

THANK YOU

