Re: Ex-POW Memorial Lights Up

Date: February 06, 2004

"The Ex-PoW memorial was lit up for the first time in preparation for the opening this Friday.

Ex-PoW memorial lights up

Monday, 2 February 2004

THESE dramatic pictures provide a sneak preview of Ballarat's Australian Ex-Prisoner of War Memorial shining at its best.

In a preview to Friday's much-anticipated unveiling of the national tribute, the water and lights were turned on at the memorial for the first time on Thursday night.

"It was emotional. Impressive and emotional," said memorial appeal project manager Les Kennedy.

He said at night, the water and the lights reflected the memorial, creating a special, reflective atmosphere.

"It had that feeling about it," he said.

Defence chief Major-General Peter Cosgrove will unveil the memorial in front of up to 10,000 people, including PoWs, their families, widows and dignitaries from across Australia.

Among the visitors will be football legend Bob Skilton, whose father was a PoW.
The $2 million memorial, at the south end of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, features a 130-metre long black granite wall etched with the names of almost 35,000 Australian men and women, who were held prisoner during the Boer War, Korean wars and World Wars I and II.

Mr Kennedy said while Friday's opening was a celebration of the nation's first Ex-Prisoner of War memorial, the occasion would also be tinged with sadness for many visitors.

"Particularly for a lot of PoWs who left their mates behind, when they walk along the wall they see their names engraved in the wall.

"Also, I suppose, for the widows whose husbands never returned."

The ceremony will begin at 11am and will feature the Australian Army Band, the Welsh Choir and an aerial display by the Roulettes.

A special edition of the eXtra magazine this Friday will feature touching stories about ex-PoWs.

AND

Hearts, minds on the fallen
Friday, 6 February 2004

WITH as many as 10,000 people expected to converge on the Ballarat Botanical Gardens at 11am today for the dedication of the Ex-Prisoner of War Memorial the event is shaping up as one of the biggest Ballarat has ever seen.

With a living legend in the form of the leader of the Australian Armed Forces General Peter Cosgrove on hand to make it official and the Governor General Major General Michael Jeffrey, himself a retired warrior of no mean repute, as one of the witnesses, one could be excused for thinking the emphasis will be on celebrity.

This will be far from the case.

The hearts and minds of the thousands of people who make up the grey army that has invaded this city in recent days will be focussed firmly on the 8600 Australians who did not survive captivity in four conflicts, the Boer War, WWI, WWII and the Korean War.

Particularly special will be the memories of the 4000 of those who have no known graves.

The bulk of these were prisoners of the Japanese.

Some were left lying beside the jungle trails they were forced to march along, more disappeared without a trace when their prison ships were torpedoed on the high seas.

Others were the mutilated victims of secret brutalities almost too unspeakable to name.

All have their own stories and each of those stories is a tragedy that still reverberates in the lives of their families and friends.

The Ex-Prisoner of War Memorial, constructed to a stunning design by Ballarat district sculptor Peter Blizzard, is a remarkable initiative with an equally remarkable history.

It was bought into being by a small committee formed in the mid-to-late 1990s.
What made the committee remarkable was that the bulk of its members were people in their 70s and 80s - ages when most of us would like to think that we will be putting our feet up.

This is, in itself, a remarkable testament to a generation of Australians who have withstood depression, war, drought, fire and flood to build the country that we enjoy, and all too often take for granted, today.

At the heart of the push for the national ex-PoW memorial is the concept of mateship.

Absent friends feature strongly in the memories of many of those who will be present at the dedication.
Among these, and there are 8000 to choose from, are men such as Private Robert McIntyre of Ballarat who was reported missing on April 21 1942. A prisoner in Malaya, he was one of the many who died of malaria, an easily preventible disease if decent medical facilities are provided, in a Japanese prison camp.

Another is former Ballarat Grammar student and Ballarat Sturt and Lydiard ANZ branch employee Sergeant Ray Moffat Leeson. Captured in Java in 1942 and a survivor of the infamous Burma railway, Sgt Moffat died after his prison ship was torpedoed in the South China Sea on September 12 1944.

Also still remembered is RAAF Flying Officer C. E Suffren who was shot down over Denmark at the age of 22 on April 10, 1944. He died in a hospital in Germany on February 16 1945, only a few months before the war in Europe ended in May 1945.

Many died before they saw their children or even knew that they had been born.
Sergeant Frederick Newnham, for example, never had any news from home during his captivity.

Taken at the fall of Singapore on February 15, 1942, this Changi and Burma Railway survivor died after the Japanese prison ship Rakuyo Maru was torpedoed by the USS Sealion on September 12, 1944.

He never lived to learn that he was the father of twin baby girls Heather and Margaret.

It is this nexus, this handing of the torch down to successive generations, that has played such a vital role in ensuring the story of the PoWs has been told. Their tale is now celebrated in stone and will continue to be told as long as Australia remains a proud and independent nation.

The memorial being dedicated today is a stirring tribute, a place of national pilgrimage and a focus for memories, regrets and the hope such days will not return."