Latest news with #DepartmentofVeterans'Affairs
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Why this photo of a group of men in Australia highlights a very tragic reality about our nation's past
A single photo of Aboriginal soldiers has sparked many Australians to remember their service during the war. The black and white image, originally published by The Argus in 1940, recently resurfaced on social media. It shows 14 proud volunteers from Lake Tyers in Victoria, seated in two neat rows, smiling for the camera as they wait to receive their Second Australian Imperial Force uniforms. These men would soon be sent to fight in the Second World War - serving a country that, upon their return, failed to honour them equally. Shared the day before Anzac Day, commenters were touched by the photo and echoed the sentiment written in the caption: 'Lest we forget.' But it also spurred conversation about how Aboriginal veterans weren't treated equally when they came home. 'If they came back, they had no rights to receive benefits as their white mates,' one user said. 'Returned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women were often denied the honour and rights given to other returned servicemen and women.' Another said: 'Brave men. Shameful history as they were never treated equally on their return.' A spokesperson from the Department of Veterans' Affairs said Indigenous people have a proud history of serving in the Australian military. 'The contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to our modern military history dates back to the Boer War, over 120 years ago.' According to the Australian War Memorial, many Indigenous Australians who served their country with courage returned home only to face the same discrimination they had endured before enlisting. Despite their military service, most were excluded from joining RSL clubs - allowed in only on Anzac Day - and were often turned away from hotels and pubs. They continued to encounter widespread prejudice in employment, access to veterans' benefits, and daily life. The Soldier Settlement Scheme, which was meant to help returning servicemen by offering land, was largely inaccessible to Aboriginal veterans. While a few succeeded, many were denied land and the support that came with it. Lake Tyers Mission located in Victoria's East Gippsland and established in 1861, was designated by the state government as a site to relocate and concentrate Aboriginal people from across the state. They were forcibly relocated there from reserves at Coranderrk, Ebenezer and Lake Condah reserves, the memorial said. The reserve lands were then dispersed as soldier settler blocks for returned servicemen from the First World War, later described as 'the second dispossession' of Aboriginal people. At the beginning of the Second World War, Indigenous people were not allowed to serve in the military, with many enlisting by claiming another nationality in a bid to fight for the country. As the war progressed, this changed and thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served the nation with distinction. Current estimates are that 1,000 to 1,300 Indigenous Australians fought in the First World War, of whom around 250 to 300 made the ultimate sacrifice. During the Second World War, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served in the Australian military.
ABC News
24-04-2025
- General
- ABC News
Former bomber pilot reflects on D-Day and return to Australia after World War II
It was the "spirit of the day" that drew Bill Purdy to the air force during World War II. The now-centenarian still remembers being called up as a Lancaster bomber pilot in 1942. "The war had been going on at that stage for two years, and it seemed the patriotic thing to do was to join up," he said, reflecting back on his decision at age 18. Australian war veteran Bill Purdy, age 102. ( ABC News: Marcus Stimson ) He trained at RAAF bases in Temora, Point Cook and Bradfield Park across NSW and Victoria in twin-engine Wellingtons, Stirlings and Tiger Moths. Mr Purdy was soon deployed to England through the Empire Air Training Scheme and described his time in the strategic bombing command as "very dangerous work". Before heading out on a mission, he would tidy up his room and make sure a letter to his mother was accessible in case he didn't return. "The odds of you coming back weren't all that bright," he said. "There was something like 100,000 air crew in bomber command ... but it ended up with [more than half] of all people who started on their tour never came back. "We lost a lot of friends, you got used to the fact — in fact, you never got friendly with anyone on the station because the odds are that they wouldn't be there when you came back." Bill Purdy during training in 1942 at Point Cook in Victoria. ( Supplied ) Bill Purdy during training in Point Cook, Melbourne in 1942. Bill Purdy in NSW in 1942. ( Supplied ) Mr Purdy in NSW in 1942. (Supplied) Bill Purdy (left) in 1942 with fellow trainees in Temora, NSW. ( Supplied ) Mr Purdy (left) in 1942 with fellow trainees in Temora, NSW. (Supplied) Bill Purdy driving, location unknown. ( Supplied ) Mr Purdy driving, location unknown. (Supplied) Bill Purdy in 1941, and in 2014. ( Supplied, Department of Veterans' Affairs ) Mr Purdy in 1941, and in 2014. (Supplied, Department of Veterans' Affairs) Bill Purdy (second from left) with comrades on deployment in UK. ( Supplied ) Mr Purdy (second from left) with comrades on deployment in UK. (Supplied) Bill Purdy (left) on deployment in the UK. ( Supplied ) Mr Purdy (left) on deployment in the UK. (Supplied) Bill Purdy (left) with friends on deployment in the UK. Mr Purdy (left) and friends on deployment in the UK. (Supplied) Bomber pilots were not told "a lot" about their targets, often certain spots within large cities. On June 6, 1944 the allied invasion of Normandy took place, commonly known as D-Day. "We were [there] on that particular day about half an hour before the troops came in, just to clear the way for them," Mr Purdy remembered. "I think we were all sort of happy as Larry because it was a sign that the war was not going to last forever." The Normandy landings, or D-Day is the biggest invasion by sea recorded in history. ( News Online Brisbane ) France recognised his efforts on that day with a Legion of Honour medal, while King George VI presented him with a Distinguished Flying Cross for the more than 37 missions he participated in. Three days after being discharged, he started his journey back to Australia, eventually picking up a job at former grocery chain Moran & Cato before becoming the chair of biscuit company Arnott's and retiring in his 70s. He said reuniting with his loved ones was a cornerstone for his homecoming after sailing into Sydney. Mr Purdy's first glimpse of Sydney Harbour as he sailed back to his hometown. ( Supplied ) "It was absolutely marvellous, it was a beautiful, sunny day as we came through the Heads, the sun was just coming up and we were all gathered around the rails," he said. His parents had no idea where he was prior to his return or when he was coming back. "I just knocked on the front door and my mother was there ... there were tears everywhere," he reflected. "Unless you didn't have a family to come back to from the war ... you'd be in dire trouble." The WWII veteran at home after returning from deployment in 1945. ( Supplied ) The veteran was married to his wife and "great love" Margaret for six decades, and has two children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Mr Purdy turned 102 just before Anzac Day. He said that life seemed "to be much the same as it was yesterday" but has, inevitably, crept up on him. When he thinks about war in the current climate, Mr Purdy sees parallels to the decades gone by. "There's so many wars going on that it's hard to find an area where's not one that's either starting or finished," he said. He called on world leaders to be "more patient" with one another. "Whether they're next door to you or whether they're next country to you ... Let's be all nice and friendly, help them when we can and just keep going."
The Age
23-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
‘I'm running out of ways to forget': For many, the war is never over
Every ending has a beginning. Come Anzac Day, come the marching, the speeches, the tributes, the laying of wreaths, the shaking of heads as time conquers even the bravest who served. 'Lest we forget' will be said, quietly, sincerely. Salvos will cut the sky, bugles will sound the music of the military. Yet there is a parallel world that moves through this day. It is the shadowland inhabited by those who served this country. It is a land defined by its loss, a hell that is too often cloaked in silence from the other world. This Anzac Day, a mother in Adelaide will place photographs of young men at the base of a cenotaph, as she has at other cities over the past few years. In Melbourne, a man will sing to an audience a new song he has written. Both step from one world to the other. For the woman, she does this because of the undying love for her son, and for all those whose lives ended on the same path as his. Her name is Julie-Ann Finney. Her son is David Finney. David's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all served; his great-grandfather, Albert, at Gallipoli. David was a petty officer and technician in the navy, where he spent virtually all his adult life. He killed himself in 2019 at the age of 38. He loved the navy, but some assignments, such as those involving asylum seeker boats, deeply affected him. The plight of the children was like a 'dagger to the heart'. His death was Julie-Ann's ground zero, and her spark to fight and try to find a light in the shadows for the thousands of other servicemen and women who have died by suicide. Last December, the federal government delivered its response to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide. Julie-Ann was a prime mover in getting the commission established. For three years, she sat through every session of the commission's hearings around the country. She lobbied, protested and called with every breath for something to be done. Defence Minister Richard Marles, in speaking of the commission's report to parliament, acknowledged her role: 'I know... that this report would not be tabled today but for Julie-Ann's advocacy … her advocacy has been singularly brave. I want to say to Julie-Ann, that this report is for David, and for the many others like him who have worn our nation's uniform.' From 1985 to 2022, there were 2007 confirmed deaths from suicide among Australian Defence Force members and former members. From 2011 to 2021, an average of 78 serving or ex-serving members died by suicide annually. These numbers are only approximate, as the commission has noted the number of suicide deaths of Vietnam veterans was not included. It's estimated the true number is about 3000. The report recommended establishing an agency that seeks reforms that prevent suicides, and within the Department of Veterans' Affairs, an agency that helps with the transition from military life to civilian life. But to Julie-Ann, acknowledgement is not meaningful action. The machine of bureaucracy that built the toxic culture within the Defence and Veterans' Affairs departments cannot be part of the solution. Her cry is, 'Don't enlist until it's fixed.' When she heard the royal commission was being set up, 'I cried so much, and not tears of happiness; tears of trauma would be closer to the truth. I had to sort through my feelings ... I came to the realisation that this was not the achievement many had hoped, it was step one of a fight that would not end easily. The recommendations, from my point of view, were very close to 'exactly' what was needed. But as always, politicians, Defence, DVA [the Department of Veterans' Affairs] and ex-service organisations were able to tweak and spin every word to suit themselves.' It's a cruel irony that in 2016, David featured in an advertisement for military life – and in December that year attempted suicide. Julie-Ann loves those who serve their country. She doesn't love the country's treatment of them. When David enlisted, she was told her son was now part of the family. It's a hurt that won't go away, for how could family treat its members so? In Julie-Ann's evidence to the commission, she writes: 'In December 2017, David was in hospital. He was very unwell. He was given a discharge date from the navy with effect on 12 December 2017. There was no understanding of why that date. He was still in hospital and needing help. David was lying in his hospital bed, unwell, broken, trying to recover from what was a life-threatening medical condition and the navy discharged him from service. They discarded him. They abandoned him like he was a broken piece of machinery that was no good to them any more. Apparently, he wasn't 'family' enough that they would look after him.' On the eve of this Anzac Day, she says: 'How do I keep telling people if you serve or have served, I'm grateful. I'm proud. However, with more than 3000 dead, I will keep saying and keep campaigning for 'don't enlist until it's fixed', and for those that think I'm playing with national security, simple, fix it.' 'I would rather our kids not join the military that have them join and then not be able to live because of a trauma-inducing culture. I truly believe that the ADF have zero idea what they are throwing their members to when they discharge. But those members have been destroyed and discarded and many die.' Julie-Ann says she is contacted about 100 times a week by veterans. Some are suicide calls. To those who ask why she doesn't highlight good stories of serving, she replies: 'Because they [good stories] don't need fixing and there are thousands and thousands of bad stories to be told, and they just keep coming.' Every ending has a beginning. Singer-songwriter John Schumann is the man singing on Anzac Day. His song, I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green), is now part of commemoration services. It was written 40 years ago about 3 Platoon, A Company, 6RAR, as both an homage to those who served in Vietnam and a lamentation to what happened to them after the war. It is every Vietnam veteran's tattoo. The new song Schumann will be singing on Friday at the Essendonian pre-Anzac Day match arose from the commission's report and the battle being waged by one woman to have her son's and every other mother's son's fate made known – Julie-Ann Finney. The song is Fishing Net in the Rain (Schumann wrote the lyrics from music by friend and manager Ivan Tanner). 'While the song was inspired by David Finney, it's really important to note that this song is about – and for – the thousands of current and former members of the ADF who have taken their own lives after serving Australia. And, perhaps more importantly, it's for their families,' Schumann says. It was to put a human face to the commission's findings. Schumann says he would be 'incandescently angry' if similar treatment had happened to a child of his. He contacted Julie-Ann, who gave him access to some of David's possessions. He found that top of David's music streaming list was I Was Only 19. Another Schumann song, Safe Behind the Wire (also about vets), was there as well. The video clip of Fishing Net in the Rain begins with this extract from one of David's last social media posts before he took his life: 'If it's not one thing it's something else. I'm running out of ways to forget. I'm running out of ways to heal!!! I want more answers. Better solutions because sometimes I feel like I'm catching all the answers, sometimes it's like holding a fishing net in the rain.' Away from music, Schumann spent about a decade making presentations to workers at remote mining and construction camps in South Australia and Western Australia about mental health. 'Suicide is an immensely difficult and delicate topic. I'm no psychiatrist or psychologist but I know from my clinician friends that people don't want to end their lives. They just want the pain to stop,' Schumann says. He cites an extract from a former airforce member highlighted in the executive summary of the commission's report: 'Nothing will take away what it does to a person to literally sign a piece of paper to say they will go anywhere at any time and do anything – including sacrificing their own life – in the defence of our country. And then for that country to turn around and say to them they are not worth anything to them broken. Not worth anything to them injured. That they see me as nothing.' Julie-Ann says the song is for those grieving and she hopes it 'will give some level of understanding to civilian Australians. The song is for families and friends bereaved by veteran suicide, so it is for thousands. If we don't hear people like me, the song will be for thousands more.' As to the bureaucracy and the networks of organisations associated with the military, Julie-Ann as part of her mission seeks the dismantling of the Ex-Service Organisation Round Table, which she describes as 'a tired and failed group of organisation presidents who have consistently failed veterans'. She has set up a petition for it to be disbanded. Of the politicians and the services establishment, she has found, 'They listen, they nod their head. Then no one does anything. I won't go away. You took my son. I can't stop.'
Sydney Morning Herald
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I'm running out of ways to forget': For many, the war is never over
Every ending has a beginning. Come Anzac Day, come the marching, the speeches, the tributes, the laying of wreaths, the shaking of heads as time conquers even the bravest who served. 'Lest we forget' will be said, quietly, sincerely. Salvos will cut the sky, bugles will sound the music of the military. Yet there is a parallel world that moves through this day. It is the shadowland inhabited by those who served this country. It is a land defined by its loss, a hell that is too often cloaked in silence from the other world. This Anzac Day, a mother in Adelaide will place photographs of young men at the base of a cenotaph, as she has at other cities over the past few years. In Melbourne, a man will sing to an audience a new song he has written. Both step from one world to the other. For the woman, she does this because of the undying love for her son, and for all those whose lives ended on the same path as his. Her name is Julie-Ann Finney. Her son is David Finney. David's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all served; his great-grandfather, Albert, at Gallipoli. David was a petty officer and technician in the navy, where he spent virtually all his adult life. He killed himself in 2019 at the age of 38. He loved the navy, but some assignments, such as those involving asylum seeker boats, deeply affected him. The plight of the children was like a 'dagger to the heart'. His death was Julie-Ann's ground zero, and her spark to fight and try to find a light in the shadows for the thousands of other servicemen and women who have died by suicide. Last December, the federal government delivered its response to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide. Julie-Ann was a prime mover in getting the commission established. For three years, she sat through every session of the commission's hearings around the country. She lobbied, protested and called with every breath for something to be done. Defence Minister Richard Marles, in speaking of the commission's report to parliament, acknowledged her role: 'I know... that this report would not be tabled today but for Julie-Ann's advocacy … her advocacy has been singularly brave. I want to say to Julie-Ann, that this report is for David, and for the many others like him who have worn our nation's uniform.' From 1985 to 2022, there were 2007 confirmed deaths from suicide among Australian Defence Force members and former members. From 2011 to 2021, an average of 78 serving or ex-serving members died by suicide annually. These numbers are only approximate, as the commission has noted the number of suicide deaths of Vietnam veterans was not included. It's estimated the true number is about 3000. The report recommended establishing an agency that seeks reforms that prevent suicides, and within the Department of Veterans' Affairs, an agency that helps with the transition from military life to civilian life. But to Julie-Ann, acknowledgement is not meaningful action. The machine of bureaucracy that built the toxic culture within the Defence and Veterans' Affairs departments cannot be part of the solution. Her cry is, 'Don't enlist until it's fixed.' When she heard the royal commission was being set up, 'I cried so much, and not tears of happiness; tears of trauma would be closer to the truth. I had to sort through my feelings ... I came to the realisation that this was not the achievement many had hoped, it was step one of a fight that would not end easily. The recommendations, from my point of view, were very close to 'exactly' what was needed. But as always, politicians, Defence, DVA [the Department of Veterans' Affairs] and ex-service organisations were able to tweak and spin every word to suit themselves.' It's a cruel irony that in 2016, David featured in an advertisement for military life – and in December that year attempted suicide. Julie-Ann loves those who serve their country. She doesn't love the country's treatment of them. When David enlisted, she was told her son was now part of the family. It's a hurt that won't go away, for how could family treat its members so? In Julie-Ann's evidence to the commission, she writes: 'In December 2017, David was in hospital. He was very unwell. He was given a discharge date from the navy with effect on 12 December 2017. There was no understanding of why that date. He was still in hospital and needing help. David was lying in his hospital bed, unwell, broken, trying to recover from what was a life-threatening medical condition and the navy discharged him from service. They discarded him. They abandoned him like he was a broken piece of machinery that was no good to them any more. Apparently, he wasn't 'family' enough that they would look after him.' On the eve of this Anzac Day, she says: 'How do I keep telling people if you serve or have served, I'm grateful. I'm proud. However, with more than 3000 dead, I will keep saying and keep campaigning for 'don't enlist until it's fixed', and for those that think I'm playing with national security, simple, fix it.' 'I would rather our kids not join the military that have them join and then not be able to live because of a trauma-inducing culture. I truly believe that the ADF have zero idea what they are throwing their members to when they discharge. But those members have been destroyed and discarded and many die.' Julie-Ann says she is contacted about 100 times a week by veterans. Some are suicide calls. To those who ask why she doesn't highlight good stories of serving, she replies: 'Because they [good stories] don't need fixing and there are thousands and thousands of bad stories to be told, and they just keep coming.' Every ending has a beginning. Singer-songwriter John Schumann is the man singing on Anzac Day. His song, I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green), is now part of commemoration services. It was written 40 years ago about 3 Platoon, A Company, 6RAR, as both an homage to those who served in Vietnam and a lamentation to what happened to them after the war. It is every Vietnam veteran's tattoo. The new song Schumann will be singing on Friday at the Essendonian pre-Anzac Day match arose from the commission's report and the battle being waged by one woman to have her son's and every other mother's son's fate made known – Julie-Ann Finney. The song is Fishing Net in the Rain (Schumann wrote the lyrics from music by friend and manager Ivan Tanner). 'While the song was inspired by David Finney, it's really important to note that this song is about – and for – the thousands of current and former members of the ADF who have taken their own lives after serving Australia. And, perhaps more importantly, it's for their families,' Schumann says. It was to put a human face to the commission's findings. Schumann says he would be 'incandescently angry' if similar treatment had happened to a child of his. He contacted Julie-Ann, who gave him access to some of David's possessions. He found that top of David's music streaming list was I Was Only 19. Another Schumann song, Safe Behind the Wire (also about vets), was there as well. The video clip of Fishing Net in the Rain begins with this extract from one of David's last social media posts before he took his life: 'If it's not one thing it's something else. I'm running out of ways to forget. I'm running out of ways to heal!!! I want more answers. Better solutions because sometimes I feel like I'm catching all the answers, sometimes it's like holding a fishing net in the rain.' Away from music, Schumann spent about a decade making presentations to workers at remote mining and construction camps in South Australia and Western Australia about mental health. 'Suicide is an immensely difficult and delicate topic. I'm no psychiatrist or psychologist but I know from my clinician friends that people don't want to end their lives. They just want the pain to stop,' Schumann says. He cites an extract from a former airforce member highlighted in the executive summary of the commission's report: 'Nothing will take away what it does to a person to literally sign a piece of paper to say they will go anywhere at any time and do anything – including sacrificing their own life – in the defence of our country. And then for that country to turn around and say to them they are not worth anything to them broken. Not worth anything to them injured. That they see me as nothing.' Julie-Ann says the song is for those grieving and she hopes it 'will give some level of understanding to civilian Australians. The song is for families and friends bereaved by veteran suicide, so it is for thousands. If we don't hear people like me, the song will be for thousands more.' As to the bureaucracy and the networks of organisations associated with the military, Julie-Ann as part of her mission seeks the dismantling of the Ex-Service Organisation Round Table, which she describes as 'a tired and failed group of organisation presidents who have consistently failed veterans'. She has set up a petition for it to be disbanded. Of the politicians and the services establishment, she has found, 'They listen, they nod their head. Then no one does anything. I won't go away. You took my son. I can't stop.'
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Subway brings back a classic menu item after 17 YEARS: 'Best news ever'
Subway has quietly brought back its classic Anzac biscuits - 17 years after they were removed from menus across Australia. Food reviewer Russell Stuart, otherwise known as Russ Eats, said he 'went down a rabbit hole' to uncover what really happened to the biscuits after they were last sold in 2008. According to the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the use of the word 'Anzac' must be approved for the production and sale of Anzac biscuits, even when ingredient substitutions are made. 'Back in 2008, Subway made a request to alter the recipe to make Anzac biscuits more affordable... but it was denied because it didn't follow the old-fashioned recipes,' Russ explained in the video. 'Then Subway basically said, "Well we can't make it cheap so we're taking it off the menu"... and here we are today.' The Department of Veterans' Affairs states that Anzac biscuits must strictly follow the traditional recipe, with no new ingredients added. However, if ingredients need to substituted for dietary requirements - such as gluten-free or vegan - this is not considered a deviation. Now, 17 years later, Subway has put Anzac biscuits back on its menu, vowing to give back to veterans, with proceeds from every biscuit sold in Australia supporting the Returned & Services League of Australia (RSL). 'I respect the re-launch because Subway copped it on the chin... They realised they tried to pull the heart and soul out of an Aussie icon so this time they're donating proceeds to veterans,' Russ said. Russ, a food reviewer from Newcastle, NSW, shared his honest verdict after taste testing Subway's Anzac biscuits. 'It's my job to tell you if the product is good or bad,' Russ told more than 425,000 followers across his social media platforms. 'Texture seems right... Big of sogginess, bit of chew by the looks of it.' The passionate food reviewer rated Subway's Anzac biscuit a 7.5 star rating out of 10 After taking his first bite, Russ thought the Anzac biscuit was 'interesting'. 'You can tell it's a Subway cookie but it has the characteristics of a proper homecooked Anzac biscuit,' he explained. 'So there's a caramelised based at the bottom but it is missing that little bit of chew, maybe a little bit of golden syrup... but overall, it's pretty good. 'I'm going to give it a 7.5 out of 10 because nothing will ever compete with a homecooked Anzac biscuit. 'But it's a pretty fun little Subway Anzac hybrid that's good.'
