Disobey any of the NSW road rules between today and 28 April 2024 and you'll have a greater chance that police will pull you over & hand you double demerit points for breaking the law

The first instinct on reading the following newspaper article might be to note the double demerit points and skip over the warning it contains.

As an incentive to consider being extra careful over the remainder of this week I draw your attention, not just to the 111 people killed on NSW roads up to 22 April in 2024, but also to the fact that it wasn't just those 58 drivers who were killed.

There were 18 passengers, 15 pedestrians, one lone person on a bicycle and 19 motorcyclists.

One of those dead was a very small child under 5 year of age, 10 were aged between 6 and 20 years of age, 64 were aged between 21 & 59 years and 36 were older people aged 65 years & over.

The majority of these deaths (73) occurring on rural and regional roads, with the latest fatal crashes on 20 April 2024 at Marulan in the Southern Highlands and on the Mitchell Highway near Dubbo.

So be careful out there - it is more than your own life you are risking if you behave foolishly.

The Western Weekender, 23 April 2024

Police are planning a huge presence on the roads for the ANZAC Day public holiday and the upcoming weekend.

Operation ANZAC Day 2024 will launch at 12.01am on Wednesday, April 24 2024, with double demerit points in place until 11.59pm on Sunday, April 28 2024, coinciding with the end of the school holidays.

The reminder comes after 111 people lost their lives so far this year, compared to 100 in the same period last year.

Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said police will be highly visible across the state this ANZAC Day weekend.

“Every driver has a responsibility to themselves, their passengers and other road users. Drive responsibly and drive to the conditions to ensure everyone arrives safely at their destination,” she said.

“ANZAC Day is a time to reflect on and commemorate our veterans. I want to thank the NSW Police Force for working around the clock to help keep the community safe this long weekend.”

The high-visibility policing operation will involve general duties officers, assisted by specialist police, including the Public Order and Riot Squad, Operations Support Group, Mounted Unit, PolAir, Licensing Police, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command and Police Transport Command.

Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden, said the appeal to road users is to do the right thing before they head out, rather than have regrets when it’s too late.

Police will be targeting high-risk behaviours such as excessive speed, alcohol and drug driving offences, illegal use of mobile phones and not wearing seatbelts.

“The goal is preventing injury and death. Tragically this year, 111 people have died on NSW roads – a concerning increase of 11 deaths compared to this time last year,” he said.

“Speeding is a major contributor to fatal road crashes, and police will take action against road users who think they can speed and put themselves and others at risk.

“A decision to speed could result in a fatality in a split-second. Think about your choices and how they impact you and others around you. Share the road and make sure you arrive to your destination safely.

“We remain committed to ensuring public safety over the ANZAC Day weekend, and we’re asking all motorists to do their part as well – especially as we expect more cars on our roads with school holidays coming to an end.”

Transport for NSW Director of Road Safety Policy, Louise Higgins- Whitton said it was important that all road users obey the rules so everyone makes it home safe.

“Double demerits will be in place for all speeding, seatbelt, mobile phone and motorcycle helmet offences, we want everyone to follow the rules and do the right thing,” Higgins-Whitton said.

“Whether it’s a short trip to the local shops or you’re heading home as school holidays end, please make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep yourself and others safe.

“Simple things everyone can do include wearing a seatbelt, putting the mobile phone away, sticking to the speed limit, ensuring you’re well rested before you set out on your journey and never driving if affected by drugs or alcohol.”

Anzac Day marches and many rememberance services cancelled for 25 April 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic

ABC News, 16 March 2020:

A number of states have moved to cancel some Anzac Day services and ban the public from attending others in an attempt to thwart the spread of coronavirus. 

A selection of dawn services will be held across the country but the public will be asked not to attend. Any marches or midday services will be cancelled. 

RSL Victoria state president Dr Robert Webster said it was not a decision taken lightly. 

"Traditionally, many of us have marked Anzac Day by attending a dawn service at our local cenotaph or the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance," he said 

"But in 2020, on April 25, when you can't go to a local dawn service, the RSL is asking that instead you tune in via radio, social media or television and take a moment to reflect on the service and sacrifice of our veterans and those who are still serving today.".....

RSL Queensland president Tony Ferris said the move was designed to protect "our older veterans" who are particularly at risk, and said he was looking into alternative ways for people to commemorate the day. 

"Regardless of the form this year's Anzac Day commemorations take, we will always remember the dedication, commitment and sacrifice of our Defence forces, past and present," Mr Ferris said. 

Robert Dick, state president of RSL Tasmania, said he was hoping the public could empathise with the decision. 

"Yes, we cop a lot of public flak over the issue, but we ask them to consider everybody else, not just themselves," he said. 

Several states and territories are yet to make a firm decision about their respective services....

Disgraced Liberal MP blots his copy book again and another Liberal minister is found wanting

This was disgraced Liberal MP for Fadden, former Minister for Veterans' Affairs and former Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC, Stuart Robert, tweeting on ANZAC Day 2016 and then deleting the tweet around three hours later once he finally realised that using soldiers to play politics on the major national day of remembrance in this country was not a good idea.

http://www.politwoops.com/p/unknown/stuartrobertmp
25 April 2016

As New Matilda editorialized online; Yes, At the going down of the sun over our multiple investment properties, We will remember them.

To make matters worse Robert tweeted an apology at 1.17pm the same day and then deleted that eight minutes later - probably after the first journalist rang him to confirm the apology. 

 He then had second thoughts and tweeted his lame excuse again.

Oh dear.....with friends like Stuart Robert in an election year, Malcolm Turnbull doesn't need enemies.

However, Robert is not the only fly in the election ointment.
On 26 April 2016 ABC News reported on Country Liberal Party Senator for the Northern Territory and Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion:

Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has asked the board of the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) to change a controversial section of its annual report that dealt with the corporation's $320 million acquisition of the troubled Voyages resort at Uluru.

The extraordinary intervention is revealed in documents released under Freedom of Information (FOI) amid an ongoing battle between Senator Scullion and the former chair of the ILC, Dawn Casey…..

A draft briefing paper by acting ILC chief executive Leo Bator and released under FOI asserts that Senator Scullion threatened to "withhold permission to table the (annual report)" unless it was amended.

The annual report's publication was delayed by months as a result of the conflict, and appears only to have been published in February following media inquiries.

The delay in its publication prevented Senate Estimates from examining the Voyages acquisition last October.

The documents released by the ILC under FOI reveal the current board of the ILC, and senior members of its executive, were deeply concerned at the request by Senator Scullion for amendments to the foreword and by the delay in the report's publication.

The ILC director of strategy warned last year that the agency would "attract scrutiny about the delay and any deletions to the annual report" at Senate Estimates.

In the end, the board decided to publish two forewords to the report, one written by Dr Casey and one by Eddie Fry, who was revealed to have assured Senator Scullion that the ILC would pursue no investigation into the Voyages sale and instead was intent upon tackling its large debts.

Senator Scullion has insisted his intervention was in response to incorrect information being asserted by the former ILC board about the Voyages acquisition. He declined to speak to the ABC yesterday and referred to his published statement.

"What I did was ask the ILC board to consider responding to factual inaccuracies in the statement from the former chair contained in the annual report," Senator Scullion said in the statement.

"It is completely appropriate for me to bring to the attention of the ILC board these inaccuracies."

Excerpts from Dr. Dawn Casey’s statement which was included in the published ILC 2014-15 annual report in question:

Australian Government asks Adelaide businessman to show the money

A look at one rocky road to Anzac Day 2016………..

Meet Chris Fox.

Campgallipoli.com.au:

Chris has a strong background in corporate finance and advisory services. He has advised on numerous business restructuring projects over the past 25 years including one of the country’s largest banks, health group organisations and logistics companies. In addition, he has substantial experience in marketing, media, advertising and event management at a National level. Chris was also the youngest Chairman of Anglicare, Australia’s largest non-for-profit organisation. Chris is the passionate leader behind the Camp Gallipoli concept and model.

Add to this sparse online biography, these past positions held by Chris Fox:

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO) Central Bayside Community Health Services Limited, Kingston, Victoria, 2012

Managing Director and Founder Fox Finance Group of Companies, April 1994 – November 2011 which included positions as:

MANAGING DIRECTOR of Fox Finance Corporation Pty Limited (merged in 2007 with National Merchant Bank). South Australian focussed, boutique Finance Company with over 3000 business clients.
CONSULTING to Chartered Accounting firm.
MANAGING DIRECTOR of Fox Partners Pty Limited (Management buy-out 2005) Integrated Financial Services Business.
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of H Muecke & Co Pty Limited and Muecke Carrying Company Pty Limited (sold to P&O Ports Corp. United Kingdom in 2005)
Established in 1875, States oldest transport company.
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of Cartonics (SA) Pty Limited (sold to National retailer Nextbyte in 2005)
Original Telco.

How the media reports the activities of Chris Fox.

News.com.au, 10 October 2014:

AT first flush it is a smart idea for thousands to share the essence of the iconic Gallipoli swag experience — a vigil under the stars, followed by a dawn service — much closer to home.

But to the man behind Camp Gallipoli it is much, much more — a chance for Australians to actively rediscover a positive national identity.

“Australia has lost its identity,” says founder Chris Fox. He adds: “We have gone backwards, we are everything we hated.”

Bandt.com.au, 19 February 2015:

Outdoor media provider APN Outdoor has thrown its support behind Camp Gallipoli, a not for profit organisation that is commemorating 100 years of ANZAC spirit with sleep out events to be held across Australia and New Zealand on April 24….

All Camp Gallipoli events will have spaces set aside for camping and there will be entertainment, guests, movies, documentaries and a special Dawn Service on Anzac day, so people can immerse themselves in the ANZAC legacy. All funds raised will go to Legacy and the Returned Services League (RSL).

A Camp Gallipoli event was held in Canberra on Saturday February 14 with a service at the Australian War Memorial. The RSL ANZAC Flame was passed on for it final journey to towns and cities representing the Camp Gallipoli Foundation.  The RSL ANZAC Flame travelled to Canberra last October, after it was lit in Albany, Western Australia, the city from where troops departed a century ago.

Chris Fox, chief executive, Camp Gallipoli Foundation said, “We recognise the uniqueness of the Australian and New Zealand spirit of unconditional mateship. We feel this was forged at Gallipoli in 1915 where race, background and status meant little and mateship, trust and honour meant everything. We are pleased to have corporate sponsors like APN Outdoor onboard to promote awareness of Camp Gallipoli across Australia and New Zealand.”

2GB Radio, 23 April 2015:

Steve Price is joined by Camp Gallipoli CEO Chris Fox to discuss how the cancelled Camp Gallipoli commemoration in Sydney is now back on.

The Australian, 10 November 215:

Tomorrow, students across Australia will donate a gold coin to restore a dilapidated school in the nearby village of Pozieres where almost 7000 Australians died during a six-week campaign in 1916 — the bloodiest battle in Australian history.

Historian Charles Bean described the site as “more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other spot on earth’’.

Camp Gallipoli Foundation chief executive Chris Fox said: “Billy Hughes once said that Australia was born on the shores of Gallipoli. Well, if that’s the case, then its baptism was Pozieres.”

The foundation is organising the fundraiser to provide a living memorial to the Anzac forces and encourage Australian children to learn about the great sacrifice the village represents, Mr Fox said.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 2016:

The chief executive of a charity responsible for controversial Anzac-branded merchandise that has been banned from sale has hit back at social media "snipers", saying the centenary commemorations of the Gallipoli landings are being "bogged down in negativity".   

In the face of the backlash over merchandising, Chris Fox, the chief executive of Camp Gallipoli, has defended his not-for-profit organisation as one that is educating young Australians about mateship and the legacy of Anzac Day at a series of camps.

Three Anzac branded items from a range developed by Camp Gallipoli have been pulled from shelves at Target after Minister for Veterans Affairs Michael Ronaldson deemed they had breached conditions of a permit the organisation has to sell the merchandise.

Mr Fox said all profits from the merchandise were being donated to the Returned Services League of Australia and Legacy.

The investigation is announced.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 April 2016:

An Anzac charity that received millions of dollars from government grants and ticketed events is now being investigated over fears it did not pass on the money raised to veterans associations.

The federal government has ordered an investigation into the Camp Gallipoli Foundation and has stripped it of its permit to use the protected word "Anzac" just days before the foundation stages a series of educational and fundraising events around the country on Anzac Day.

The move by the Department of Veterans Affairs comes after Fairfax Media revealed the foundation's chief executive, Chris Fox, may have personally profited from the foundation by charging "management fees" worth up to $1.5 million a year through commercial companies owned by his family and an associate.

The Camp Gallipoli Foundation, which last year received $2.5 million federal grant, has been unwilling to substantiate its claims that it donated money raised on behalf of veterans' charities despite collecting millions of dollars in ticketing revenue, donations and sponsorships from corporate Australia.

The national leadership of the RSL and Legacy report they have received no financial donations from Camp Gallipoli.

The revelations raise questions about how taxpayers funds were spent on the 2015 Anzac commemorations and the regulation of groups that fund raise on behalf of charities…..

The government did not comment on whether it was aware Mr Fox was a bankrupt as recently as 2013 when it issued the grant and official permission to use "Anzac" for the foundation's activities.

The Camp Gallipoli Foundation ran nationwide events on the eve of the Anzac centenary in 2015, hosting an estimated 40,000 people who paid up to $120 each to camp out "just like the Diggers did".

Events are also scheduled for most capital cities this Anzac Day.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs – through the Anzac Centenary Fund – backed the original program with a one-off grant of $2.5 million.

Another $1 million was contributed by corporate partners such as Target and Woolworths through merchandising deals and sponsorship arrangements.

Promotional materials said any surplus generated by the events – and its membership-based "Camp Gallipoli Club" – would be donated to veterans' groups, Legacy and the RSL.

In the days before the 2015 centenary events, Mr Fox announced Camp Gallipoli was expecting to generate a "surplus" of $900,000. Fairfax Media understands that severe weather at the Sydney event did hurt the finances of the foundation but it is unknown to what extent.

A dispute has erupted between Camp Gallipoli and the veterans' charities about the funds.

"Legacy has not received any money from Camp Gallipoli," national chairman Tony Ralph said.

RSL national chief Samantha Jackman said the organisation had also not received any donation after the 2015 events.

Both veterans' groups say they have no official relationship with Camp Gallipoli for 2016.

But the foundation's deputy chair Graham Ingerson maintains the foundation has "significantly supported" the RSL and Legacy. "The Foundation has invested significantly in many projects to aid and assist these charities."

Despite committing to release a list of these contributions, none was provided by the foundation.

A Fairfax Media investigation has also found that chief executive Chris Fox is apparently trying to turn the event into a commercial venture by charging percentage-based "management fees" through companies owned by his family and an associate.

The companies are entitled to receive fees equivalent to up to 20 per cent of the fixed cost of staging the events.

Mr Fox, who is also employed on a $150,000 annual salary as the CEO, has refused to disclose how much money the for-profit companies have actually made via Camp Gallipoli.

While eventually acknowledging they qualified for a fee worth up to $1.5 million in 2015, Mr Fox said no management fees have been charged because the Camp Gallipoli events did not generate enough revenue.

He later said his company did receive a payment of $100,000 to cover staff costs, as well as received "loans" from the foundation and a $215,000 gift from an unnamed benefactor to cover expenses in lieu of the fee payments. 

Mr Fox, who said he also had not received a salary in six months, eventually claimed he "did not know" what had been received by the companies in fees.

"We're living on scraps, metaphorically. We've run it on an oily rag. No one is trying to profit from it – we're just honestly trying to do something good," he said…..

Camp Gallipoli says Mr Fox's bankruptcy is "historic and finalised" and "unrelated to the work of the foundation".

Anzackery: ignorant flag wavers shouting down Australia's genuine and complex military, political and social history

Anzackery ~ n. 1. nationalistic, laudatory and distorted portrayals of Anzac history with little regard to accuracy or context;  2. hyperbolic rhetoric extolling the supposed place of Anzac in history; 3. jingoistic mythology or praise concerning Anzac exploits, usually at the derogatory expense of allied or enemy combatants; 4. shameless exploitation of Anzac commemoration and sentiment for commercial, political or authorial gain. 5. fixation on inaccurate or actual Anzac history at the expense of considering Australia’s current and future strategic security needs. [Draft definition produced by defence lobby group Australia Defence Association]

This was Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull venting on Twitter before contacting SBS management to complain about one of its sports journalists:

Unfortunately for Mr. Turnbull, uncomfortable history is not that easily airbrushed away.

This was the type of behaviour that the journalist was alluding to when he wrote about summary execution and rape in two of his five ANZAC Day tweets…..

World War Two Australian newsreel exultant admission that strafing of Japanese survivors was widespread in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea at approx.1:23 minutes and 5:23 minutes, with images of Australian airmen killing Japanese soldiers and/or sailors adrift in a small lifeboat at approx. 5:36 minutes:

https://youtu.be/azanISsx19c

For the next several days, American and Australian airmen returned to the sight of the battle, systematically prowling the seas in search of Japanese survivors. As a coup de grâce, Kenney ordered his aircrew to strafe Japanese lifeboats and rafts. He euphemistically called these missions "mopping up" operations. A March 20, 1943, secret report proudly proclaimed, "The slaughter continued till nightfall. If any survivors were permitted to slip by our strafing aircraft, they were a minimum of 30 miles from land, in water thickly infested by man-eating sharks." Time after time, aircrew reported messages similar to the following: "Sighted, barge consisting of 200 survivors. Have finished attack. No survivors." [http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-the-bismarck-sea.htm#sthash.WYKrkJGC.dpuf]

The killing of unarmed, sleeping, sick or wounded Japanese was common. Although official pressure was put on troops to take prisoners, the Australian front-line soldiers - like their American counterparts - had little desire to do so. [Australian War Memorial, 2015, symposium document]

[Extract from the war diary of Australian Second AIF soldier Eddie Allan Stanton in Richard J. Aldrich,  2014, The Faraway War: Personal Diaries Of The Second World War In Asia And The Pacific]

I stood beside a bed in hospital. On it lay a girl, unconscious, her long, black hair in wild tumult on the pillow. A doctor and two nurses were working to revive her. An hour before she had been raped by twenty soldiers. We found her where they had left her, on a piece of waste land. The hospital was in Hiroshima. The girl was Japanese. The soldiers were Australians. The moaning and wailing had ceased and she was quiet now. The tortured tension on her face had slipped away, and the soft brown skin was smooth and unwrinkled, stained with tears like the face of a child that has cried herself to sleep…..

This was the first time it happened. But since then I had become a monotonously regular visitor to the hospital, always bringing with me a victim of the Yabanjin  - the barbarians – as they began to call the Australians.   [Extract from the memoirs of former Australian interpreter & Second AIF soldier with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan, Allan Stephen Clifton writing as Carter, 1950, Time of Fallen Blossoms, p 86]

Ending of the Preface to Time of Fallen Blossoms

Anzac Day 25th April 2013

At the waterhole

Gallipoli

May 1915

Janelle Saffin encourages all local veterans communities to tap into funding for Anzac Centenary commemorations and projects

Janelle encourages veterans to tap into Anzac Centenary Program

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin is encouraging all local veterans communities to commemorate the nation’s  military history under the Australian Government’s new $83.5-million program marking the Centenary of Anzac from 2014 to 2018.

“As we approach the 100^th anniversary since the Gallipoli landings and major battles on the Western Front, the Anzac Centenary Program will honour the sacrifices and service of the first Anzacs and of all members of the Australian Defence Force who have kept the Anzac spirit alive,” she said.

Ms Saffin welcomed a package of commemorative events and initiatives, including a local grants program to help Northern Rivers communities carry out their own Anzac commemoration projects, with funding available from January 2013.

Ms Saffin said some key elements of the program include:

• The refurbishment of war graves to ensure individual and collective memorials to our war dead, in Australia and overseas, are properly maintained.
• Funding for the running of commemorative services overseas during the Centenary;
• An Arts and Culture Fund to support individuals, artists and cultural institutions to develop commemorative displays and artistic creations that showcase our military history;
• A scoping study for a travelling exhibition or similar, that will take important memorabilia from the First World War and subsequent conflicts out to communities across Australia.
• Funding for the establishment of the Anzac Interpretive Centre at Albany, Western Australia, where the first convoys of Australian and New Zealand soldiers left for Egypt and Gallipoli.

Ms Saffin said it was fitting that on the eve of Anzac Day 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Minister Assisting her on the Centenary of Anzac Warren Snowdon were launching a seven-year program in partnership with local councils, communities, ex-service organisations, state and territory governments and international partners.

Ms Saffin also congratulated the Rotary Club of Lismore Incorporated and the Port of Yamba Historical Society after Veterans’ Affairs Minister Snowdon announced they had received Australian Government Saluting Their Service grants for commemorative projects.

Lismore Rotary will use $3356 to help install a stained glass window in the Warrior’s Chapel of St Andrews Anglican Church, Lismore, to commemorate the servicemen who perished in the Sandakan POW death camps and on the Sandakan death marches in Borneo during the Second World War.

Port of Yamba Historical Society will use $1487 towards staging its current exhibition, The Ghosts of World War One, which commemorates the local men whose names appear on the Yamba War Memorial and honour rolls displayed at the Museum.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Media Contact: Peter Ellem 0437 303 875. 

Remembering the fathers, uncles, sons, daughters, brothers, husbands, wives and sweethearts who served or waited....

ANZAC Day 2011: putting a face to the name

Athol Goodwin Kirkland

“Oakborough”, Rylstone, New South Wales

Corporal 5^th Reinforcements 34^th Battalion
Australian Imperial Forces

Killed in action sometime between 3^rd and 5^th April 1918

At Villers-Bretonneux, France

Resting forever in an unknown grave

Aged 23 years and 2 months

Lest We Forget

NOTE:

On 27 April 2015 it was reported in The Sydney Morning Herald that Athol Goodwin Kirkland’s grave had been identified in Crucifix Corner Cemetery outside of Villers-Bretonneux and a headstone with his name, rank, battalion and the inscription “I once was lost but now am found” erected and unveiled in the same month.

The Figg Family descendants of May "Maisie" Webb nee Kirkland rejoice in the finding of a beloved brother of May Webb, an uncle to her children, grand-uncle to her grandchildren and, great-uncle and great-great-uncle to the younger generations alive today and one who has always been treasured in family memory.

Past acts of naval and military gallantry and valour revisited

The Australian Government Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal is holding an Inquiry Into Unresolved Recognition For Past Acts Of Naval And Military Gallantry And Valour.
The Tribunal has been directed to inquire into and report on the appropriate recognition for specific acts of gallantry or valour performed by the following naval and military personnel and make recommendations on the eligibility of the naval and military members, as listed, to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the Victoria Cross for Australia or other forms of appropriate recognition :

Gunner Albert Neil (Neale) Cleary - Army Aged 22, a prisoner of war who sought to escape after the infamous Sandakan death march in 1945. He was recaptured by Japanese guards and brutally beaten over a period of days before dying.

Midshipman Robert Ian Davies - Navy Aged 18, Australian-born sailor serving aboard the British battleship HMS Repulse. Attacked by Japanese aircraft off the coast of Malaya on December 10, 1941, he was last seen firing at the attackers as his gun position submerged.

Leading Cook Francis Bassett Emms - Navy Aged 32, a cook aboard HMAS Kara Kara, a boom gate vessel stationed in Darwin harbour at the time of the Japanese air attack on February 15, 1942. Despite severe wounds, he continued to fire a machine gun at attacking aircraft. He died en route to a hospital ship. His actions were considered comparable to British sailor Jack Mantle, awarded the VC for defending his ship from German air attack in 1940.

Lieutenant David John Hamer - Navy Gunnery officer aboard HMAS Australia during operations off the Philippines in 1945 when the ship came under repeated Japanese air attack. Over nine days, he calmly directed anti-aircraft defences. One attacking suicide aircraft passed within five metres of his head.

Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick - Army Aged 22, British-born soldier who achieved lasting fame on Gallipoli. Day and night, braving enemy fire he and his donkey carried wounded to the aid station. He was shot dead on May 19, 1915.

Lieutenant Commander Robert William Rankin - Navy Aged 36, commanded the sloop HMAS Yarra escorting a convoy of merchant ships back to Australia ahead of advancing Japanese forces. Spotting three Japanese heavy cruisers on March 4, 1942, he turned to attack in the hope of allowing the convoy to escape. Yarra's situation was hopeless and Rankin was killed shortly after ordering surviving crewmen to abandon ship.

Able Seaman Dalmorton Joseph Owendale Rudd - Navy One of 11 Australian sailors who participated in the attack on Zeebrugge, Belgium, on April 22-23, 1918. Essentially a commando raid, this was designed to seal off a canal allowing German submarines access to the sea.

Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheean - Navy Aged 18, a gun-loader aboard the Corvette HMAS Armidale which was attacked by Japanese aircraft off northern Australia on December 1, 1942. Although wounded, he shot down one Japanese bomber and was last seen still firing as Armidale disappeared under water.

Leading Aircrewman Noel Ervin Shipp - Navy Aged 24, a sailor attached to the Australian navy helicopter flight in Vietnam, then operating with a US helicopter unit. On May 31, 1969, he was a door gunner aboard a US helicopter gunship which came under intense enemy fire, with its pilot hit. Shipp was observed to continue firing on the enemy position right to the moment of impact which killed all aboard.

Lieutenant Commander Francis Edward Smith – Navy Aged 33, killed while serving as a gunnery officer aboard HMAS Yarra while directing a one-sided battle with superior Japanese warships. Born in Lismore on the NSW North Coast.

Lieutenant Commander Henry Hugh Gordon Stoker - Royal Navy Commanded the Australian submarine AE2 when it successfully penetrated the Dardanelles at the same time as Australian troops went ashore at Gallipoli. AE2 sank in the Sea Marmara and all aboard were taken prisoner.

Leading Seaman Ronald Taylor - Navy Aged 23, a sailor aboard HMAS Yarra who remained alone at his gun, firing continually until killed shortly before the ship sank.

Captain Hector Macdonald Laws Waller - Navy Aged 41, commander of the cruiser HMAS Perth which encountered a superior Japanese force in the Sunda Strait on February 29, 1942. Perth fought until all ammunition was gone and the ship was struck repeatedly by torpedoes. Captain Waller went down with his ship.

A second inquiry into prisoners of war killed while escaping or executed after recapture saw Ballina soldier Private William Forges Schuberth posthumously awarded a Commendation for Gallantry.

*Details of war service found at Towoomba News

Dawn Services - where's ABC TV?

Although this morning's Anzac Day Dawn Services were very well attended many people (especially the aged, ill and infirm) were not able to to get to a service.

Hence, one has to ask why the national broadcaster, the ABC, did not see fit to provide a live television broadcast of a service.

Surely, it's not beyond the ABC's capacity to cover at least one of the services. Pay TV provided coverage of the service conducted in Sydney's Martin Place, but the vast majority of persons who may have been keen to watch a service don't have pay TV.

Gallipoli's Lone Pine Cemetery - floodlit as workers prepared for today's dawn service.

Photo: Penny Bradfield (The Age, 25 April 2008)

Naked man to draw attention to his raw deal

This year's Anzac Day march in Ballina in northern NSW will be something different. It will see an 89-year old man 'march' naked.

John MacGregor told The Northern Star that he will be 'marching' naked because all other efforts he has made to draw attention to his plight have produced blanks.

Mr MacGregor, dismayed and angry about having his World War II service revoked, has decided to 'march' naked riding his mobility scooter draped in an Australian flag during the Anzac Day march at Ballina.

"I've let them know in Canberra that I'm intending to do something, but I shouldn't have to do all this," he said.

"There are 15 of us, it's not just for me, two of them died on duty and they've never been recognised.

"I've been fighting all my life and I will probably keep fighting."

Mr MacGregor worked with the Postmaster-General's Department and was part of a crew that established secure telephone lines across Torres Strait and the Gulf of Papua so that General MacArthur did not have to rely on radio in 1943.

The former engineer was recognised for his war service in 2004, and has been campaigning to have a purple star awarded to himself and the 14 others on this mission.

However, he recently found out that not only will he be denied his medal, but his war service has been revoked.

"I have a Gold Card as a military person, but that is dependent on my war service," he said.

"I'm aware of the fact that if they cancel my war service they might cancel my pension."

A request for medical compensation for war injuries was denied by the Veteran's Review Board, and in their refusal they stated:

"The Board noted that Mr MacGregor has previously been considered to have rendered 'operational service' during World War II as a civilian employee of the Postmaster-General's Department, but that this has now been revoked."

Mr MacGregor said the revocation was news to him and disputes the claim he was there as a civilian.

"We were working for the Allied Forces and if the Prime Minister of the day John Curtin is to be believed, he stated in his many press releases that 'any orders coming from General MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Forces Southwest Pacific Area, were to be regarded as coming from him'," he said.

"In fact, all of us in Australia were working for the Allied Forces."

Mr MacGregor has written to the Defence Minister and requested help from Federal Member for Page, Janelle Saffin.

A spokesperson for Ms Saffin said the MP is making representations on behalf of John MacGregor to the Veteran's Affairs Minister, but was yet to receive a response.

RSL Sub-branch rules state that Mr MacGregor cannot march as a returned serviceman with medals without proof of overseas service, but can march as an ex-serviceman, which the RSL recognises him for.

Mr MacGregor said he may take his fight to the High Court.

"I can take it to the High Court, but I have to get permission from the Chief Justice," he said.

Veterans Affairs would not comment on his case due to privacy reasons.