ALBANY COMES ALIVE - THE MARCH AND THE SERVICE (1 NOVEMBER 2014)

Saturday 1 November 2014. This was to be a big day for your humble scribe. I felt genuinely honoured to have been able to accept the group invitation to join the hundreds of serving military personnel and RSL members from all over the country in the commemorative march through Albany, one of the real highlight events of the weekend but one which had been mired in a deal of controversy as I shall explain later.

The march was to be followed by the formal service of remembrance and, that afternoon, the assembled fleet of warships from three countries, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, were to sail past in King George Sound as a re-enactment of the departure of the troop convoy. As many of you know, my younger son Stuart is a Navy helicopter pilot...I have a real affinity with this service. I was salivating.

I happily admit to having felt slightly apprehensive as I left the company of our group and walked up to the top end of York Street to the assembly point for the RSL participants. The march had been organised so that serving members would assemble at the bottom of York Street and march up the incline, do a 'U' turn and lead the remainder of us back down the hill to our dismissal point in Princess Royal Drive (and yes, 'The Good Old Duke of York' did come to mind!)

Where should I form up? Everyone seems to be behind a unit banner of some sort. At last, towards the end of the assembled throng, I spotted another Blue Beret. That will do me. What a good decision this was. I had no sooner taken my place when all around introduced themselves. My UN compatriot was a retired regular soldier who had completed his service in East Timor (hence the beret). Marching immediately in front of me was a 90 year old veteran of WW2, an airfield engineer who had served throughout the Pacific. He was an absolute champion. We were all still chatting away thirty minutes later when it was suddenly time to step off.

Obviously I had to rely on Liz to provide a photographic presentation of this event. Despite the crush of the incredible numbers lining both sides of York Street, she did a sterling job. Let's join the march here at the beginning as members of the Australian and NZ armies march north from the bottom end of York Street. 

I have another admission to make at this point. I was very glad that the gallop up the hill was confined to serving members only...York Street is pretty darn steep, particularly for those of us with dickey knees.

 By now the troops have completed the uphill leg and are returning along the other side of York Street, led by the Navy band. As this shot shows to some extent, the crowds lined up behind the barriers were many, many deep. By way of scene setting, the buildings in the background are on the corner of York Street and Stirling Terrace.

The colour party was right on the band's heels, followed immediately by.... 

....guess who?  Apart from their 'boy scout hats' with their distinctive red hat bands, which clearly distinguish them from Aussie troops, the Maori trio marching behind the unit officer dispelled any doubt that these were our ANZAC friends from across the Tasman. Who would want to tangle with the bloke nearest the camera?

I mentioned previously that the navies of Australia, NZ and Japan had all accepted the invitation to take part in the weekend. The inclusion of the first two is obvious, and, as I explained in my last, the presence of a Japanese destroyer was symbolic of the fact that the cruiser Ibuki had been involved in the convoy escort in 1914. 

Crews from each ship (and boat....our submarine Rankin was part of the fleet....and as anyone with a navy background will hasten to explain, a submarine is the only vessel in the fleet which is called a 'boat'....if you have a compelling desire to empty your wallet and shout many drinks, call any other vessel by that name in a navy wardroom!) took part in the march. 

In a few representative shots, here first are the sailors from HMAS Anzac looking resplendent in their summer whites

as did the Japanese tars who had stepped ashore from JDS Kirisame.

Although France did not sent a ship, it did provide a contingent of (presumably) navy personnel, 

whilst New Zealand was also represented by the crew from their frigate HMNZS Te Kaha. When I first saw this photo I was puzzled by the fact that the Commanding Officer seemed to be cradling something in his left arm. Indeed he is...what appeared on a blow up shot to be a small war club....this is obviously a NZ tradition of some sort and certainly make a change from the sword normally carried by officers.

The crews from all the participating ships (and boat) took part in the march including, in addition to those featured, from the frigates HMAS Arunta and Stuart, one of our much and unfairly maligned submarines, HMAS Rankin, and the large Australian supply ship, HMAS Sirius. It was a grand show by the crews who would do even better later.

Albany was the host to many dignitaries over this weekend. Liz freely admitted that she 'just snapped away', but in doing so she has managed to capture Rear Admiral Ken Doolan, the President of RSL Australia  

and the Chief of the ADF, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, who was striding out with other high ranking military officers. 

And here is one of his predecessors, both in service and position, Angus Houston, in my view one of the finest and most intelligent officers to ever serve Australia. You may recall the most recent demand on his services has been as the co-ordinator of the search for the missing Malaysian aircraft.

And then there were the inevitable pollies. I do wish people like Bill Shorten, if they must join a march like this, would try at least to look as though they understand that it is not an opportunity to 'glad hand' the crowd. This is a march, Bill, not a pre-election campaign. At least pretend to be focused on the task at hand!

I know, I know, this is all well and good, but where's the really important bloke? Are you sure this has not been a big scam?  Nope, here is your trusty scribe in his Blue Beret (far centre of the photo),

caught in the act of trying to check that he was marching in some semblance of a straight file. I must admit that at this far end of the march, where there was not a band to be heard, keeping step was a challenge, but we managed to muddle along and the crowd didn't seem to care a jot.

I have now marched in probably thirty plus Anzac Day and other parades. Never before have I been one of the recipients of such an incredible outpouring of crowd thanks and support as occurred here in York Street on 1 November 2014. This was a day when I unashamedly had to exercise extraordinary emotional control and is one I shall never forget.

Before we leave the march, I did mention previously that it had been the subject of some earlier controversy. I am sure you will recall that, included in the departing convoys, were a large number of horses. In fact, from an Australian perspective, our great horses played a significant and integral role in our WW1 efforts. Sadly, of the total of 136,000 of these grand animals which left our shores, only one returned. 

You may well understand, therefore, that when the proposal to include a contingent of the local Australian Light Horse Association was rejected, there was an outcry. But, despite the presentation of a petition of 30,000 signatures, the event Chairman, Major General Dave Chalmers, remained firm in his argument that there was a public risk inherent in the participation of these horses and their riders. He added that this was "not a re-enactment and the marchers will only be current and former defence force personnel".

Given that the local group has participated without incident in twenty five previous marches and that a number of people were prepared to undertake a voluntary 'clean up' after the horses, I find the argument presented by the good Major General a little thin. Fortunately a compromise (of sorts) was reached. Four members of the Light Horse were allowed to stand on the intersection of York and Serpentine Streets, the assembly point for the RSL participants. 

In a display of what I consider to be high diplomacy, representatives of the Light Horse Association announced that they were satisfied with this compromise, but many locals to whom I spoke remain totally miffed by the stance taken by the Canberra based officialdom. 

Given that Albany is the only place in Australia where a monument dedicated to the Light Horse stands, high on Mount Clarence, framed by the magnificent backdrop of King George Sound, I can understand the ire of the locals.

But enough of controversy....it had been a wonderful event at the conclusion of which Cooky and I did later pose for posterity.

Following the march, the official Commemorative Service was conducted, again using the expanses of Anzac Peace Park. And, like the Navy Sunset, front stalls seats were but a dream for the hoy poloy. As we did then, we resorted to the Big Screen to watch the service unfold.

Here the big boys came out to play. The Prime Ministers of both Australia and New Zealand, premiers from a number of Australian States (SA sadly missing), diplomatic poobahs from allied countries, and a host of military top brass had all gathered for this keynote event.





And then there was us, all of us, thousands of us, again all streaming down York Street

to congregate on the lawns of the park. Some even went to the trouble to dress up in period costume. 







Others huddled under the shade of large umbrellas because, thankfully, Albany had turned on a supremely fitting day as far as the weather went......clear skies, bright sunshine and slight winds in the morning (it is never still here in the afternoon). Given the vagaries of spring in this part of the State, and indeed the howling winds of the following day, the organisers and all of us participating certainly dodged the proverbial bullet on Saturday.







By the time the service began, it was standing room only. (you can see the north face of the roof of the Entertainment Centre in the background....the 'screen' for the light show the previous evening)

We were very grateful for the big screens and the very smartly produced and highly informative 'order of service' brochure, provided courtesy of the Australian Government. Throughout the entire service, the images projected alternated between real time activities (here the first class Navy band is doing it's thing)







the keynote speeches (I noted with interest that Peter Goers reported on these in less than glowing terms in an Adelaide Advertiser article....I thought his critique was a little harsh),











and images of the activity in and around the harbour 100 years ago.













There were even projections of the current activity in King George Sound as the ships manoeuvred in preparation for the upcoming sail past, including this Australian FFH at speed.

Wreaths were laid along the base of the Peace Park wall, the ode was read, the Last Post sounded its well known sorrowful call for silence, the Rouse rang out to lift our bowed heads, national anthems were sung with varying degrees of gusto, and, after the final blessing by the Principal Chaplain Stuart Hall, RAN, it was suddenly all over. The official guests departed and the crowd dispersed.


From my perspective, this entire affair had been managed with appropriate dignity, a welcome lack of official pomposity, relatively brief speeches, and some fine work by the Navy Band and local children's choir.  This was more than adequately supported by the large screen projections and a very well presented order of service brochure. We all knew what was going on and could both see and hear it. Again, well done Albany! 

Now for the scurry.  We had but an hour and a half to make it back to our park and ride station, hop in our mini-bus and fight our way through the impossible glut of traffic to Middleton Beach, climb or be transported up Mount Adelaide and find a good vantage point from which to watch the sail past in King George Sound.

Within our group, I was probably the only one on a real mission in this regard. This was personal. Navy is in the family.  "Come on you stragglers, I'll be very grumpy if I miss this....seriously grumpy....in fact I'm prepared to be quite rude to make sure we get there on time."   Oddly enough, Liz was quick to agree that I had the last bit right.

But did we make it?