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Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Museum seeks photo of soldier who never came back
As the 75th anniversary of the Korean War's outbreak approaches on June 25, a local museum hopes to locate a photograph of one of the men who never returned. Between 1950 and 1957, about 4700 New Zealanders served in Kayforce under United Nations command, and another 1300 served on Royal New Zealand Navy frigates. Forty-five New Zealand servicemen died, 33 of them killed in action. The Dunedin Roll of Honour in the Lost Generations Room at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum recounts the stories of those lost in war. Three Dunedin soldiers are known to have been killed during the Korean conflict: Oliver (Jim) Cruickshank, Richard Long and Edward Allnatt. The museum has been unable to track down an image of Edward Allnatt, and hopes someone locally can supply a photograph. Exhibition developer William McKee said the museum relied heavily on the generous support of wider whānau in the community to locate images for its digital Roll of Honour. "We are yet to track down a portrait of Edward. "He had strong connections to North Otago and Blenheim, but Edward spent a lot of time in Dunedin in the 1930s and 1940s, so hopefully, there might be a friend or relative out there that could help complete his record." Curator Sean Brosnahan has compiled biographies of the three soldiers. Born in Oamaru in 1927 and raised in Dunedin, Edward Allnatt had been working as a driver in Blenheim when he volunteered for Kayforce, New Zealand's contribution to the United Nations campaign to repel North Korea's invasion. He served as a gunner with the 16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery. On November 26, 1951, he was in a truck ferrying ammunition when it was hit by a shell and he subsequently died of his wounds at only 24. Allnatt lies at rest in the United Nations Cemetery, Busan, South Korea. In 2003, his brother Wally accepted the newly established New Zealand Operational Service Medal on his behalf, an honour recognising the 49 service personnel who have died on active duty since 1945. Oliver (Jim) Cruickshank was born in Glasgow in 1938. He and his brother Michael were sent to Otago in 1941 as wartime child evacuees. For four years they attended John McGlashan College, boarding with relatives Jim and Jean Kirkland on their farm near Mosgiel. Returning to Scotland after the war, Cruickshank enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1946, was commissioned as a pilot officer in 1950 and served overseas on detachment with the Royal Australian Air Force from February 1951. He was one of six chosen from 150 RAF volunteers to fly reconnaissance with the Royal Australian Air Force in Korea, piloting the first British aircraft to cross Communist lines. On October 2, 1952, Chinese MiGs attacked his plane while he was on an unarmed photographic reconnaissance mission over North Korea. After taking evasive action and running low on fuel, Oliver had to bale out but his parachute failed to open. His body was never recovered. He was 24 and is remembered on the United Nations Wall of Remembrance at Busan in South Korea. Dunedin-born warrant officer Richard Long became one of New Zealand's first casualties in the Korean War when guerrillas ambushed his jeep near Samnangjin-ni on January 13, 1951. Born in 1920 and educated at King Edward Technical College, Long left Dunedin for Auckland, where he worked in a Ponsonby grocery before joining the artillery in 1942. He served in the Pacific for a year then trained as a pilot and flew with the Royal New Zealand Air Force from 1943 to 1945. When the government called for volunteers for Kayforce in 1950, he returned to the artillery with the rank of warrant officer. Long and his travelling comrade Gunner Ronald MacDonald were travelling by jeep about 13km from camp when machine-gun fire struck. MacDonald died instantly. Long was captured, forced to march five kilometres to a village and shot as his captors withdrew. He was 30. The pair were the New Zealand contingent's first losses. Long is buried in the United Nations Cemetery at Busan. In 2003, his cousin Lois Burleigh accepted the newly created New Zealand Operational Service Medal on his behalf. CAN YOU HELP? Toitū Otago Settlers Museum is seeking an image of Edward William Allnatt, who died of his wounds at only 24 while serving during the Korean conflict. If anyone has further information, please email toituosm@ or visit
The Guardian
23-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Australia needs more than hollow words about a fair go – we need brave policy-makers
On Anzac Day I like to post on social media a list of birthdates in the national service lotteries from 1965 t0 1972. I do it because the March 1966 ballot, which was for men born between January and June 1946, includes my dad's birthday. He was picked and he fought in Vietnam, arriving just before the Tet Offensive in 1968. Not only is my dad's birth date in that March 1966 ballot; so is mine. And that chills me. It's part of why I revere the Australian War Memorial as a sacred place – it's hard not to when you've stood beside your dad as he pointed to the names of those he knew on the Roll of Honour. It is why I have no qualms in saying I hate the AWM's lack of commemoration of the frontier wars, and deeply despise the $500m spent turning it into a 'Disneyland of war'. It's also why I have deep contempt for a party using the days before Anzac Day to announce a jingoistic $21bn in defence spending and which talks about putting us on a 'war footing'. But it is mostly about very expensive, redundant toys. I also ask the question that is often linked to Anzac Day: what are we defending? What are these values we hear soldiers sacrificed their lives for? And are our politicians brave enough to propose policies that reinforce and deliver those values? Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Is it a society where the unemployed live in poverty while the Reserve Bank believes there needs to be about 4.5% of the labour force without a job to keep inflation stable, and yet jobseeker is about 38% below the poverty line? If the graph does not display, click here Is that Australia's'fair go'? What about our native flora and fauna? Is there anything more deserving of our protection? This month we were told that the Great Barrier Reef is near a tipping point for survival. Surely a political party proud of Australia would be making the loudest noise possible to get action on climate change. Instead, when asked last week about climate change, Coalition leader Peter Dutton meekly said, 'the question is what we can do about it as a population of 27 million people?' What about decisions that affect our own shores? Is there any bravery there? No. Instead, the government and the opposition rushed through legislation to ensure salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour can continue even though the industry is almost certainly sentencing the Maugean skate to extinction. Neither party showed any bravery failing to stand up to foreign companies that employ few workers, and which pay negligible amounts of tax. If the graph does not display, click here Dutton at least has been brave enough to be the first leader of the Liberal party to admit we don't have a shortage of gas – something the ALP doesn't admit. If the graph does not display, click here But there is no bravery from either party about higher taxes on these mostly foreign-owned gas companies. Over the decade from 2019, beer drinkers will sacrifice more than gas companies – paying $12bn more in excise than gas companies will pay petroleum resources rent tax. If the graph does not display, click here Nor do the two main parties show any bravery by arguing we do not need any more new gas fields. Instead, this week the government approved a massive new gas project that will be purely for export and will not be subject to any royalties. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Australia is now a country that defends giving away – for free – our natural resources, and their extraction will contribute to the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef. On housing, both the ALP and the Coalition capitulated to the wealthy – making it clear they would not touch the 50% capital gains tax deduction or negative gearing. The Parliamentary Budget Office last week estimated the cost to the government in revenue foregone from both policies in 2025-26 would be $13.4bn. If this was listed as a program it would be the 14th most expensive – just below the cost of jobseeker. If the graph does not display, click here But in Tuesday night's debate, Dutton suggested we shouldn't touch it because it 'would be a disaster for people who are saving for a rental property'. It would seem the Australian dream we now defend is the dream of negatively gearing our property for the second, or third, or 26th time. Is the Australia we love the one where we have one of the highest levels of old-age poverty among rich nations, and the second lowest age pension? If the graph does not display, click here Clearly, sacrifice does not include the taxpayer funded retirees masquerading as 'self-funded' – who reap about $22bn in superannuation tax breaks. If the graph does not display, click here I agree that Australia is great. But it could be much greater. Google 'Australian ballot' and tell me you don't feel some pride that we led the way in ensuring everyone could lodge their vote in private. What about women's suffrage? Does that not suggest a nation that can change the world? It is not only conservatives who love our country and believe it is worth defending. But what is it we love, what is it we want to defend? It's all well and good to talk about a fair go, or our great natural resources and lifestyle. But talk is cheap and hollow words are weak. Bravery in policymaking can ensure we are a free and equitable nation with a unique environment of which we can be rightly proud. Greg Jericho is a Guardian columnist and policy director at the Centre for Future Work
CBC
21-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
For the Love of a Son by Scott Oake
A father's love. A devastating drug crisis. A stirring call to action. When veteran broadcaster Scott Oake first held his infant son, Bruce, in his arms, he never imagined that Bruce would become a statistic in the losing battle to opioid abuse. In those early days, Scott, a new father, watched Bruce with awe, marveling at the potential of his funny, charismatic boy. As Bruce got older, though, he struggled to fit in at school and began showing signs of having ADHD, including a streak of impulsiveness that often got him into trouble. Scott and his wife, Anne, did their best to support him, and for a time, he found community and belonging in boxing and local rap battles. But when Bruce was pulled into a world of drugs and gangs, Scott and Anne experienced a crash course in the reality of loving someone battling substance use disorder. Then one quiet day in 2011, Scott got the phone call that every parent dreads: Bruce had accidentally overdosed. At just twenty-five, Scott's vibrant, creative, first-born son was gone forever. It was a loss that could have broken a man, a marriage, a family — but Scott, Anne, and their younger son, Darcy, instead turned the worst day of their lives into a way to help the thousands of Canadians struggling with addiction. After nearly a decade of fundraising and battling red tape and political machinations they launched the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, a free, revolutionary treatment centre staffed by addicts and alcoholics in recovery. For the Love of a Son is the story of a father's unconditional love for his son. Above all, it's the story of a young man who never got to grow up and a family who gives others the chance to find their way home. Scott Oake is a Gemini award-winning sportscaster for CBC Sports, Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada. He is on the Roll of Honour of the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association and appointed a Member of the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada. Originally from Sydney, Nova Scotia, Oake started his broadcasting career at Memorial University's campus radio station before spending five decades with CBC.
