The Order, Spring 2011

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THE

RDERThe National Magazine of The Order of Australia Association

No 30 Spring 2011

PRICE$6.50

A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW OAA CONSTITUTIONPlease see the AGM Notice (enclosed with this edition)

and National Office Notes on Page 15

Have you experienced the thrill and convenience of a cruise on a luxury liner? More and more Australians are taking holidays and retirement voyages on a range of cruise ships such as Queen Elizabeth 2 (nearer) and Queen Mary 2, shown here amid sightseeing craft on Sydney Harbour. Read about options on pages 12, 13.

Run

away to

sea for

a voyage

of a

lifetime

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On other pages

3 Your letters on Austral-ia’s naming; former US S e c r e t a r y o f S t a t e George Schulz honoured.

5

National Secretary’s report 15Military matters 17Foundation pages 20–21

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12–13

A book by former Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade Philip Flood AC; one about Marcus Ein-feld; and a history of a special surf life-saving club.

National Chairman Peter McDermott AM CSC is appealing for members to recruit more members to

join The Order of Australia Association — and to nominate deserving citizens for awards in the Order of Australia.

He writes, “The biggest thing that members can do is to bring in more members — and there are two parts to that process. You became a member because someone thought well enough of you to write you up for an award.

“Across Australia the numbers of nominations and awardees seems to be declining.

“Let’s reverse that trend by nominating other fine Australians you know.

“Let’s call or write to every new awardee in your community, whom you know well or not, and tell of the benefits of being an Association member. Let’s ensure we all participate in the events our branches and groups conduct. Your association will thank you!

“We are also empowering directors to take on parts of the wider work of the Association, drawing in members in their branches to amplify what used to be the work of a few in National Office and in the branches.

“Well, you can help your state chairmen and committees with the initiatives we are bringing in.

“We always need new committee folk but sometimes just offering a hand as a co-opted member with special skills is exactly what is needed.”

National Chairman’s Report — Page 15

Dr Valerie Asche AM, Chairman, NT Order of Australia Association, welcomes members to the Darwin conference.

She writes, “We Australians move around a lot within this great country; we have the freedom to do so because, happily, even before federation, we thought of ourselves as Australians. Yes, we have our regional loyalties and a lot of fun in contrasting them but nothing divisive or unpleasant in that. So if we territorians tell you that you might find our territory a fascinating and exciting adventure, we are not suggesting that you must think less of other parts of a great and inspiring Commonwealth.

“Still, we believe that we have certain gifts for the common good and an inheritance only just coming into being to move our nation further into nearby parts of the world and achieve friendship and understanding with them. South-East Asia is rapidly developing into a thriving and vigorous part of the world with enormous potential and we in the North are best placed to recognise, encourage and share in the future.

“Darwin is already home to many from these parts whose children grow up as fine Australians but who can easily understand the countries from which they have come.

“We have a climate congenial to many of these peoples and we have mineral and pastoral resources to be developed. Darwin must inevitably be one of Australia’s great link cities to our neighbours to the north. We look forward to seeing many from interstate next year and we can promise them friendship, enjoyment and true Australian hospitality.”

Four-page conference lift-out in centre

Your guide to this edition of your magazine

A job to do ... Let’s begin in Darwin

Professor Shirley Randell AO, Director, Centre for Gender, Culture and Development Studies, Kigali Institute of Education, Rwanda, on the country's achievments.

Opposition front-bencher Andrew Robb AO tells of his battle with depression in Black Dog Daze

The number of Australians choosing a cruise holiday has soared from only 116,338 in 2002 to more than 466,000 last year. So what is the attraction of a holiday on the ocean (and river) wave?

Ian Mathews AM writes his recollections of cruising with a difference when he served on an accident-prone tanker in the 1950s buffeting from the UK via the Gulf to Sydney.

He had a meat pie and a bar of chocolate decorate his coffin and his autobiography was Ladies’ Legs & Lemonade: Hugh Reskymer “Kym” Bonython AC

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22–23

The Order, Winter 2011

The Order of Australia Association office holders

National PresidentThe Hon Shane Stone AC QCNational ChairmanAir Commodore Peter McDermott AM CSCDeputy National ChairmanMr William Galvin OAMNational Treasurer Mr Geoff Vincent AMNational SecretaryColonel Roger Dace AM QGMNational Membership SecretaryMs Colleen Thurgar AMExecutive Officer Mrs Pamela Peterson

The Order is the national publication of The Order of Australia Association. It appears also on the Association’s web site, www.theorderofaustralia.asn.au

Editor: Ian Mathews AM [email protected] subeditor: Bruce Brammall

Please send material for publication, including letters to the editor and photographs, to [email protected] or by post to The Order of Australia Association, Old Parliament House, 18 King George Terrace, Parkes, ACT 2600 ph: (02) 6273 0322

Views expressed in The Order are not necessarily the views of the Order of Australia Association. The Association does not necessarily endorse any third-party advertisement published in The Order or accept any responsibility or liability for such advertisements or the goods and services they advertise.

ISSN 1835-4378 (print) ISSN 1835-4386 (online)Print post approved

RRP $6.50 inc GST — Free to OAA members

CorrectionIn the Winter edition (No. 29), the postnominals of Mr Hugh Morgan AC, Chairman of The Order of Australia Association Foundation, were incorrect in a photo caption; and the postnominals of Mrs Josephine Stone AM were omitted. The Editor regrets these errors.

3

Letters Letters Letters — and an honorary award

Send letters of 200 words or fewer to the editor at The Order of Australia Association, Old Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600 or by email to:

[email protected]

On behalf of the Governor-General, Foreign Minister the Hon. Kevin

Rudd presented the award of honorary Officer in the Order of Australia to former US Secretary of State George Shultz, on September 14.

Mr Rudd said, “The award has been made in recognition of Dr Shultz’s work enhancing mutual understanding between our two countries and strengthening our alliance with the United States.”

Dr Shultz served as US Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989, during the final years of the Cold War, and was a key supporter of Australian initiatives in Washington. During his time as Secretary of State, Dr Shultz demonstrated a close appreciation of Australia’s importance and reliability

as an ally and ensured that US views and information were shared with Australia.

In his career, Dr Shultz worked also with Australian leaders to further arms-control agreements, initiatives in Indo-China, the creation of APEC, efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, and initiating outreach to China.

“It is especially fitting that his efforts be acknowledged in this 60th anniversary year of the ANZUS Treaty, a treaty he did so much to bring into practical force,” Mr Rudd said.

The ceremony took place in San Francisco at the commencement of the Australia-US Ministerial (AUSMIN) consultations, which Dr Shultz was instrumental in establishing.

Former US Secretary of State Shultz made honorary OfficerHonorifics and the

media

I read with interest the letters on this subject in the Winter 2011 edition

of The Order and, after a recent trip overseas, felt that what happened during the cruise part of this trip was worthy of comment.

Firstly, however, although it has been three years since I retired and ceased my dealings with the media, all I can say is that although print and television did not always show my honorific, most of the radio presenters did refer to the OAM when introducing me.

Back to the cruise: in a lift one evening while I was wearing my lapel pin a person in the lift asked, “That is an Order of Australia Medal, isn’t it?”

Before I could answer, he went on to say that he too had one and probably should wear it.

This disappointed me in the light of the apparent lack of recognition by many Australians as well as the lethargy on this gentleman’s part.

However, at dinner the same evening, one of the passengers at our table recognised the pin and asked the background of how I received it and went on to tell the rest of the table what an honour it was and how he had admiration for anyone who received such an award. This soon spread and many passengers asked similar questions.

My reason for this letter is that we need to continue to let the Australian public know about these honours and ensure that recipients display proudly what we have all worked so hard to achieve, as well as encourage the media to note these honorifics as suggested in the previously cited letters.

Graham C. Jones OAMMermaid Waters,

Queensland

The letter from Dr Christopher Peters in the Winter edition of The Order

[No.29] is an attempt to rewrite history and should have been challenged by the editor before publication.

De Quiros never landed in Australia, although he may have been searching for the great south land.

He landed in the New Hebrides, now known as Vanuatu, and called it Austrialia del Espiritu Santu in honour of Phillip III of Spain, who was of Austrian descent.

Howard A Freeman OAMMelbourne.

Rewriting history over naming rights

An honoured family

After reading in The Order, Winter 2011 “Achievement is often a famiIy

affair”, I am delighted to add our family achievements for your consideration, and ponder whether the pioneering spirit of mother and father instilled the need to serve others less fortunate. Mr and Mrs Alfred Beattie came by boat from the Gold Coast to settle on the Atherton Tableland in the late 1800s, then virgin rain forest and rich red volcanic soil. They travelled by horse to council meetings in Herberton and raised a family of seven.

Alice Lilian Coleman OAM (Nee Beattie) (deceased) was awarded the Australia Day Citizen Award 1993 and awarded the OAM in 1999.

David Nye Beattie (deceased). While serving in the RAAF in 1942 was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal before he was blinded by shrapnel from a German aircraft; he was keenly involved in the RSL. Although blind, he became director of the Atherton Tableland Co-

operative, operating a dairy with his young family. Retired from farming, he became a chiropractor and died aged 89.

Alan John Beattie OAM was founding chairman/manager of AthertonTableland Potato Growers’ Association in 1963. He became a member and then chairman of the Australian Potato Advisory Committee. In 1968 he founded the Far North Queensland Rotary Field Days. He won a Churchill scholarship in 1973 to research potato marketing in the US, Canada and Europe. He was given the Australia Day Citizen Award in 1998 and awarded his OAM in 2000.

Lillian Edwards, daughter of Alice Coleman OAM.

The Order, Spring 2011

Australian Foreign Minister the Hon. Kevin Rudd presents the honorary Order to former US Secretary of State George Shultz as successor Hillary Clinton looks on.

4 The Order, Spring 2011

Professor Randell says that Rwanda continues to take great strides.

Denmark’s largest and most influential newspaper, Politiken, has placed Rwanda at the top of a list of the world’s tourist destinations that are overlooked.

Apart from the wildlife, including rare gorillas, it praised magnificent scenery. The tourism sector fetched $A53 million for the country in the first quarter of 2011, up from $A40 million in the same period last year.

President Paul Kagame’s promise of 12 Year Basic Education (12YBE) by 2017 has been initiated. Local community, army and police kick-started the construction of classrooms at a selected school during monthly communal work. This follows the successful implementation of the Nine Year Basic Education (9YBE) program. A budget of about $A25 million has been allocated to the construction of 2,679 new classrooms and 5,424 toilets in all districts countrywide. Nearly 6,000 classrooms have been built since 2009 for the 9YBE program.

Professor Randell writes that she has seen something recently of the success of 9YBE in keeping girls in school. Already the numbers of girls in primary schools are more than those of boys in Rwanda and enrolment in lower secondary schools is nearly equal.

As part of a project on Strengthening Gender Research to Improve Girls’ and Women’s Education in Africa, sponsored by the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), a research team from her institute visited four child-friendly schools to consider their impact on girls’ education in Rwanda.

“We visited two rural schools in remote mountain areas of Rwanda and two urban schools,” she writes. “We marvelled at the contribution UNICEF funds have made to building classrooms, providing in-service training for teachers and separate toilets for girls. Girls’ sanitary rooms were in each school and these have been built in 813 primary and secondary schools across the country.”

She noted that few girls were doing science and technology in the four

of State and Government High-level Meeting on HIV/AIDS at the UN, President Kagame cited women as the key drivers of change in the battle with HIV/AIDS, stressing how important it is that those most vulnerable and affected by the disease play a central role in fighting it.

The First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, joined 30 other First Spouses from across the world at the UN to mobilise support and to recommit themselves to the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

According to UNAIDS, about 1,000 babies are infected with HIV each day, 90 per cent of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa. HIV is also the leading cause of maternal mortality in developing countries.

Young people make up an estimated 41 per cent of new infections, the majority of them — about two thirds — are young women, numbers rising to an alarming high of 72 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, a clear demonstration of the long-recognised links between gender inequalities and the risk of infection.

Rwanda is one of few countries in the south that have achieved at least 80 per cent access to treatment for HIV/AIDS.

Gender-based Violence (GBV). Another recent CGCD project was our involvement in the Africa Region Security Organs’ Capacity Building Workshop on violence against women and girls: prevention, response and peace-keeping.

schools but, nation-wide, the number of girls choosing science subjects increased by 2.2 per cent from that of previous years.

In the 2010 A-level results, the over-all best science candidate was a girl and, of the 60 best science candidates, 33 per cent were girls, some of the science combinations being topped by girls.

“Nevertheless, it is clear that there is still much to be done to improve the quality of schooling even though quantity has increased — enrolment in primary schools has grown to 95 per cent in 2010 from 73 per cent in 2000,” she writes.

On the critical issue of women’s health, Professor Randell noted that more than 80 per cent of cervical cancer cases occur in developing countries, severely affecting the lives of women, their families and communities, yet most such countries cannot afford the vaccines and technology used for prevention and early detection. Rwanda is the first African country to have a comprehensive, coordinated plan to eliminate cervical cancer in the launching of a campaign that will see girls between the age of 11 and 15 vaccinated. The screening program targets women between the ages of 35 and 45 years for diagnosis and treatment. Rwanda has a population of 2.72 million women aged 15 years and older who are at a risk of developing cervical cancer, the most frequent cancer among women in the country, especially between the ages of 15 and 45.

HIV/AIDS. When chairing the Heads

For years, Rwanda has been equated with horrendous violence committed during civil strife in 1994. But now Professor Shirley Randell AO, Director, Centre for Gender, Culture and Development Studies at Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) Rwanda, reports on the country’s achievements. This article is based on a recent letter to friends.

Taking time out with her large family, Professor Shirley Randell AO visited Lalibela, in Northern Ethiopia, a World Heritage site which, she says, must rank among the wonders of the world. “Of all the places I have seen, its 11 underground rock-hewn churches [form] one of the most spiritual places — a great religio-historical site — as was Axum, with its stellar obelisks and Gondar, with its magnificent castle. I am here with 15 of my 20-member

family, having given a paper at the Women’s Worlds triennial Forum in Ottawa.”

Women and girls in Rwanda lead by example

Women as the key drivers of change in the battle with HIV/AIDS, Continued Page 7

5The Order, Spring 2011


7

Continued from page 5

Professor Randell writes, “Dr Venera Zakirova and I developed training

modules and provided training to build capacity and strengthen the role of security-organ representatives from army, police and corrections in ending violence against women and girls. Participants came from 14 countries: Botswana, Burundi, Central Africa Republic (CAR), Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Rwanda is one of the few countries that has taken several initiatives to implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1325/2000, aimed at protecting women and girls during and after armed conflicts, and to fully involve women in conflict prevention, management and resolution, peace

building and reconciliation. Initiatives have included the establishment of gender desks in both the National Police and Rwanda Defence Forces, sending female peacekeepers on missions in various countries (the highest number worldwide to Sudan, Haiti, Liberia, Chad, and CAR), strengthening community policing (at present there are nearly 15,000 voluntary community policing committees in Rwanda) and establishing the Isange One Stop Centre adjacent to Police Headquarters in Kigali. Isange provides free medical, hospital, police, counselling and DNA services to gender- based violence survivors, receiving about 150 patients monthly, 95 per cent of them female, 55 per cent of them girls. Sexual and GBV in Rwanda is considered to be a human security issue as well as a hindrance to sustainable development. It requires the involvement of stakeholders and decision makers, and genuine

political will to create an environment that fosters zero tolerance of SGBV.

The latest official data show a remarkable improvement in family planning among the Rwandan people, which stands at about 42 per cent and 43 per cent in the rural and urban areas respectively. Figures show a steady decline in the average number of children per Rwandan woman — from six to four — and the likelihood of a reduction to three in the coming years. Considering that only 10 per cent of the population used family planning methods in 2005 and by 2010 up to 45 per cent of married couples were using contraception, it is evident that more people have responded positively to the government’s appeal for birth control.

This is to avert a potential population explosion that would put enormous pressure on the country’s long-term development agenda.

Tackling gender-based violence in Africa From Professor Shirley Randell AO

Black Dog Daze: Public Life, Private Demons by Andrew Robb AO, published by Melbourne University Publishing. RRP $34.99

We all get depressed on occasions — when the footie team loses or

it rains on the washing — but getting depressed is not the same as having depression, any more than having a head cold is the same as getting pneumonia. Senior Liberal front-bencher the Hon.Andrew Robb AO has done all those suffering from depression a service in this book of his experience with the condition.

First, he has demonstrated that facing the problem is better than hiding it as he did for so long; second, he has sought and taken good medical advice on dealing with the condition; and third, he has shared his experiences — personal and political — with everybody.

The “black dog” of depression takes many forms. Robb’s manifested itself in his teens as not being a morning person; he didn’t fire on all cylinders until later in the morning. Throughout a varied career he managed to negotiate a way to cope with depressing mornings. However, as the years progressed and his career path took him into a range of quasi-political directions he found his black and bleak morning depression stretched further into the day. Ironically, his managerial positions in the National Farmers’ Federation, the Federal Liberal Party headquarters, in business and now as a politician provided boosts of adrenaline to counter the underlying depression — but it did not go away. It got worse.

His crunch came when the Liberal Party was in turmoil after the departure of former Prime Minister John Howard

AC and the short-lived leadership of Brendan Nelson. Malcolm Turnbull became leader and Robb “had to settle for Climate Change…”. This was to be a watershed appointment as it became apparent to Robb that he and Turnbull were poles apart on the Rudd government’s emissions trading scheme, which Turnbull said Liberals should support.

Robb skilfully weaves the bitter politics and his deteriorating condition into a riveting story. By now the “morning depression” was holding him to ransom for much of the day apart from spurts of adrenaline-charged moments of high drama. This was not an ideal launching pad for leadership. He makes the decision to go public and take time out from Shadow Cabinet to cope with the often debilitating treatment. Some medications did not work; combinations or variations of others did to a greater or lesser extent.

There are countless books on

individuals’ battles with medical conditions and, on one level, this is another one — but this book is so much more. People suffering their own forms of depression may recognise similarities or parallels to Robb’s experience and learn from them. To others his school experiences at the hands of brutal teachers will strike familiar chords. His determined climb through various jobs to become Federal Director and Campaign Director of the Liberal Party — through defeats and victories — will inspire many. Perhaps most intriguing to some, including his political opponents, are the back-room scheming, ploys and treacheries of political life as well as the minutiae that lead to success.

Quite apart from his honesty in dealing with “a condition”, Robb’s Black Dog Daze could almost serve as a CV for party leadership as his last paragraph suggests.

Reviewed by Ian Mathews AM

Taming the ‘black dog’ from a front benchThe Order, Spring 2011


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The Governor of Queensland, Ms Penelope Wensley AC (centre), with the 14 Gold Medallion winners at the Queensland Branch’s Student Citizenship Awards at Parliament House, Brisbane in September. At left is Professor Tony Webber AM, Queensland Branch Chairman; at right is Dina Browne AO, immediate past national chairman.

Bernadette Connor OAM and the Bunya Pine planted in 2004 by Emeritus Professor Dame Leonie Kramer AC DBE, president of the Order of Australia Association 2001–2004 and Steve Corbett, director of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in recognition of the Association’s national conference in

Hobart that year.

The South Australian Branch’s annual dinner, held at Adelaide’s Pavilion on the Park Restaurant in July, was well attended and gave members an opportunity to catch up. Guest speaker was media personality Mr Jeremy Cordeaux AM, whose after-dinner address topic was “Use and Misuse of the Media” which was well received. With Jeremy is his wife Caroline Cordeaux and, at

right, Garry Pamment.

Pride in Australia was on display at Government House, Adelaide when the SA Governor, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC RANR, presented awards to 10 SA students for demonstrating pride in Australia by their efforts at school and in their communities. The awards, made by the SA Branch of The Order of Australia Association, went to: Samuel Burston of Sacred Heart Senior College; Jacinta Clark of Grant High School; Justin Clarke of Booleroo Centre District School; Daniel Clarkson of Brighton Secondary School; Heidi Hutchesson of Penola High School; Casey Georgia Knight of Clare High School; Renae Laubsch of Kapunda High School; Tom Moore of Penola High School; Akiralie North of Wudinna Area School; and Niven Woods of Woodville High School who was also presented with the Student

Citizen of the Year Award 2011.

Youth awards reflect Pride in Australia and Student Citizenship


Apply for your official Order of Australia Association plaque. See the other side of the ad-dress sheet of The Order for details and order form. Sales of plaques help fund-raising by The Order of Australia Association Foundation.

Treat yourself and help the OAA Foundation

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NOTE: ONLY MEMBERS MAY WEAR TIES, SCARVES, BROOCHES, CUFFLINKS

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11

Thirty young people from every state and territory, including one from the

Cocos Islands, gathered in Fremantle on October 23–27 to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Youth Forum.

The forum preceded the Common-wealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was being attended by the Queen.

They joined up to 100 others from Commonwealth nations to learn about the

The Age Discrimination Commission-er, Susan Ryan AO, has much the

same idea as The Order. She is interested in hearing positive stories about ageing and sharing them with Australia through the Commission’s web site. The Order wants to publish your stories too, so if you decide to contribute a recollection of an event to the Human Rights Commis-sion (or even if you don’t) send it to The Order as well.

Ms Ryan says, “I think that by sharing positive stories about older people and finding ways to remind the public how much older people continue to contribute to our community, we can start to address attitudes that result in age discrimina-tion.”

She has invited people to send in names, photos and 300-word stories about persons over 50 and their achieve-ments, including themselves.

“A great many older people are active in the community, including as volun-teers, or provide very valuable support to family and friends,” Commissioner Ryan said.

“These contributions are too often overlooked, despite the fact that they are not only socially important to our com-munity but very often provide enormous economic benefits, such as unpaid caring work.”

It was International Day of Older Per-sons on October 1.

Send your stories to: The Order, The Order of Australia Association Old Parliament House18 King George TerraceCanberra ACT 2600

To find out how to send your stories and photos to the Human Rights Com-mission, go to: www.humanrights.gov.au/age/send-us-your-story.html

Write your stories for the grandkids

Commonwealth, debate issues to be put to world leaders and benefit from skills-building sessions during the forum.

CHOGM was held in Perth from Octo-ber 28 to 30.

The youth delegates were selected to provide youth-related recommendations to it.

They have backgrounds in health care, indigenous advocacy, human rights, the media, politics, business, urban planning and education, among many other fields.

Delegates to the Commonwealth Youth Forum were selected by the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition on behalf of the Office of Youth.

More information on the Youth Forum is available at www.youth.gov.au/cyf

Young Australians to help CHOGM

Dr J. Fred Leditschke AM, his wife Margaret, of Clayfield, Queensland,

and friend Lt.General Bishop Len Eacott AM and his wife Sandi, of Canberra, were visiting the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium, in May when they came across an honorary awardee playing the bugle for the Last Post ceremony. Despite some language hurdles they introduced themselves.

Fred writes, “We ascertained he was over 80 and had been playing the Last Post for more than 30 years.

“Several years ago ‘someone’ came to Ypres and presented him with an Or-der of Australia Medal for his years of service remembering our fallen in World War I. Len is the Bishop of the Anglican Church for the Australian Defence Force. Margaret’s father, Archie Benneer, served at Gallipoli and subsequently survived the Ypres Salient. He was blown out of a trench, suffered some gas poisoning but came home — or I wouldn't have my wonderful wife of 53 years.”

In Flanders Fields...

From left: Dr J.Fred Leditschke AM and Lt.Colonel Bishop Len Eacott AM with a Menin Gate bugler, their fellow Order of Australia awardee whose name didn’t survive

the language barrier.

Love of citizenship is a cornerstone of The Order of Australia Association’s

national goals and the tenth Australian Citizenship Day, September 16, saw more than 4000 people from 115 countries become citizens at about 120 ceremonies across the nation. Schools, councils, li-braries and community organisations held special citizenship affirmation ceremo-nies for existing citizens to express their loyalty to Australia.

Canberra’s Aranda Primary School students were joined by former Austral-ian cricketer and National Australia Day Council chairman Adam Gilchrist AM to celebrate Australian Citizenship Day. Gilchrist led more than 100 students from years five and six in the citizenship af-firmation ceremony.

Since 1949, Australia has welcomed more than four million new citizens, more than a million of them in the last decade.

NSW: After the launching of Australian Citizenship Day celebrations with a spe-cial Opera House citizenship ceremony in August, more than 1300 people became Australian citizens in NSW in about 40 ceremonies across the state.

South Australia: About 250 people became citizens.

Queensland: More than 600 people became citizens.

Tasmania: About 80 people became citizens.

Victoria: Almost 1000 people became citizens in 19 ceremonies. A citizenship ceremony was held at the Royal Australa-sian College of Surgeons in Melbourne for about 150 new citizens.

Western Australia: More than 600 people became citizens.

Northern Territory: About 120 people became citizens in three ceremonies in the territory.

Thousands of new citizens welcomedThe Order, Spring 2011

Level 12, 135 King Street, Sydney

12 13The Order, Spring 2011 The Order, Spring 2011

A life on the ocean — and river — wave is just the ticket for holidaymakers

Ian Mathews AM reminisces about out-of-the-ordinary cruises

When is a cruise not a cruise? There are probably several answers but two

will suffice. When you’re paid to go on a voyage; or when you’re seasick for the whole of the cruise.

My experience at sea was, first, as a merchant seaman; and then as a migrant to Australia.

The first occurred in the mid-fifties when the Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA Derwentdale had her refit razor-slashed to six weeks.

The results were expensive for the Admiralty (the owners) and a delight to me,

a newly recruited writer (clerk).Derwentdale was to pick up light

submarine fuel oil at Ras Tanurrah, in the Persian Gulf, and take it to Sydney, south through the Great Southern Bight with brief calls at Malta, Bombay and Colombo on the way. Things didn’t quite work out that way.

Departing from Plymouth after her refit in Barry, South Wales, Derwentdale negotiated the Bay of Biscay without incident. I didn’t. Seasickness struck in all its force, encouraged by various maritime “cures”, all of which sounded and proved to be just as bad. Things settled down after we turned left into the Mediterranean Sea. On arrival at Malta, however, the razor gang’s parsimony made itself felt. The ship’s

engines wouldn’t stop or at least would not obey simple commands from the bridge such as “slow”, “stop” and “astern”. What should have been a 24-hour turn-around in Valetta stretched to several days of sight-seeing in Malta.

Schedules were now upset and we missed the next convoy through the Suez Canal, giving me and other crew members a day lolling on the beach. We were not so lucky at Ras Tannurah.

For several years Derwentdale had been transporting naval supplies for the Admiralty and crude oil for commercial oil companies on her return voyages to the UK.

The RFA was a money-maker for the Admiralty.

However, despite the ritual of cleaning tanks after unloading crude oil, a thick gel of oil remained in the tanks.

This was no problem if the next cargo was also crude but now we were to load light fuel oil from a US naval base for use in Australian submarines. The tanks had to be really clean — and so began three weeks of steam hosing and pumping until we got the nod to load.

After an uneventful visit to Bombay to change our Indian crew, we headed for Colombo — and to collide with another ship. Colombo Harbour was rather like a parking lot; ships tied up to buoys in neat rows in the harbour.

Once again our engines failed to respond

to commands. We hit a Dutch ship tied up in the parking lot. It was a relatively gentle tap as 16,000-ton ships go but could spell trouble later on.

Prudence dictated that a cement box be poured into our bow for additional strength and safety. As far as I recall the Dutch ship just lost some paint.

The collision, however, changed our route. The Bight’s notorious swells, it was feared, could break a tanker in half with extra weight in the bow, engines in the stern and a light load amidships. The orders were to go north about Australia, call at Thursday Island and take a gentle passage through the Great Barrier Reef.

We arrived in Sydney on New Year’s

Day 1955 and stayed three weeks at various harbour wharves while Derwentdale’s engineers worked on her innards to takes us back to the UK via Trincomalee and Bahrein.

Those three weeks of enforced holiday persuaded me that Australia was the place to live. A few years later, now married, Joyce and I took another voyage, which was a cruise on RMS Straithaird, a P&O liner hired by the Australian Government to bring Ten Pound Poms to this promised land. It would be quite wrong to say this voyage was uneventful just because nothing went wrong. We met people on board who, 50-odd years later, are still friends. That’s what real cruising can do for you.

A long Đ

Each year, more and more Australian travellers are discovering the relaxation

and enjoyment that comes with exploring the world by water.

According to the International Cruise Council Australasia (ICCA), Australians have taken to cruising like proverbial ducks in the last few years, passenger numbers increasing year-on-year since the ICCA began collating figures in 2002. In fact, the number of Australians choosing a cruise holiday has soared from only 116,338 in 2002 to more than 466,000 in 2010.

Cruise holidays are a natural fit for Australians, who are renowned for their love of the water. Some hard-to-reach destinations, such as Alaska and the Pacific islands, are best seen by ship; but cruising allows passengers to venture also into hard-to-travel and culturally diverse destinations which, in visiting independently, they wouldn’t feel comfortable.

Travellers are recognising also that cruising offers a great way to explore the vast and different coastlines of Australia and New Zealand in comfort, Australia and New Zealand ranking second and third respectively behind the South Pacific as the most popular destinations with Australian passengers in 2009.

It’s not just the destinations that appeal. All-inclusive cruise holidays offer value

that is hard to beat, giving holidaymakers the chance to relax in the knowledge that they don’t need to spend another cent unless they want to.

In addition to the convenience of unpacking only once and letting an ever-increasing range of destinations and exciting ports come to you, cruise holidays include comfortable accommodation, top-class service, delicious cuisine and a huge range of on-board entertainment as part of the cruise fare.

Larger cruise ships resemble floating resorts, offering multiple and different dining venues from quick cafes to casual evening meals or fine-dining experiences

rivalling those in large cities.However, the real advantage of cruising

is that passengers can do as little or as much as they like, from traditional favourites like bingo, casinos and dance classes to some new options — fencing classes, rock-

climbing walls and racing-car simulators. Those who want to relax can spend the morning lounging by the pool with a good book, hit the spa in the afternoon for a spot of pampering and gather for a pre-dinner drink on deck at sunset.

Those with more energy can walk a few laps of the decks before breakfast, take part in a wine-tasting class or listen to a lecture, then catch one of the spectacular evening shows in the theatre after dinner.

Cruising is perfect for couples looking

for a romantic break or a fantastic option for singles and groups of friends travelling together, allowing everyone the freedom of doing their own thing as well as enjoying each other’s company.

In particular, cruise holidays make it

easy to take the extended family away; the children love making friends in the kids’ clubs while the adults catch up on R&R, freed from cooking meals and cleaning up.

In recent years, river cruising too has become a popular option, an increasing number of retirees deciding to explore Europe via its mediaeval highways — its rivers.

Travelling on smaller vessels carrying about 200 people, river-cruise passengers can experience the wonder of world-famous cities as well as the pleasures of small provincial villages as they cruise through the heartland of countries such as Germany, France and Austria.

ICCA believes there’s a cruise holiday to suit everyone, whether travellers are looking for relaxing breaks or seeking a little more adventure from their holidays.

Where to find outA not-for-profit organisation formed in

1996, ICCA represents 25 of the world’s finest cruise lines, working in affiliation with more than 1000 professional travel agencies in Australia and New Zealand.

Accredited ICCA travel agents are cruise experts who are specially trained to offer advice to match travellers with their perfect cruise — be that a leisurely voyage visiting South East Asia, a river cruise exploring Europe or an expedition journey to Antarctica.

ICCA can even put holidaymakers in touch with their closest accredited travel agents.

The only thing they need to do is visit www.cruising.org.au and use the Travel Agent Search function for a list of travel agents near their postcodes.

Queen Elizabeth 2 (foreground) and Queen Victoria rendezvous in Sydney Harbour. Fort Denison (“Pinchgut”) is the islet between them.




Pre dinner drinks. Annual dinner. Darwin Convention Centre.


Pre dinner drinks. Annual dinner. Darwin Convention Centre.


15

Members’ comments wanted National Office Notes by National Secretary Roger Dace AM QGM

Our Association is a select club of high-achieving individuals,

recognised for their service to Australia. As the Chairman of the board of the company that manages the Association, I am privileged to have the opportunity to work with many of those high achievers and, in conjunction with them, to further the work of the Association in supporting the Order of Australia. You can be assured that in conjunction with some hard-working individuals in the National Office, on the Association’s board (also called the National Committee) and with the strong support of the branches and regional groups, we are looking at making the Association stronger, more relevant and better positioned to meet the challenges of this new century. There are many societal and other changes afoot in Australia: a growing level of ethnic diversity, changes in employment opportunities, demographic changes, increased level of governance pressures at all levels of government and, perhaps most importantly, a realisation that nothing can be taken for granted any more. For example, we can no longer expect that new awardees in the Order will automatically want to join the Association without a clear understanding of the benefits that may accrue to them. Indeed, the whole nature of the pool from which we draw our members is changing. Although the numbers of awardees who have received a significant award in the Australian honours system

is still overwhelmingly within the Order of Australia, these days about half of those whom I have seen receive awards at Government House, Canberra, in the past few years received awards that do not entitle them to join the Association. The bravery awards are pre-eminent among these but the increasing numbers of awards to our military, public servants, police and emergency services and others may prompt us to ask why these fine Australians, receiving awards with general equivalence to the OA, awards should not be invited to join our Association.

What a great opportunity it would be to include a range of other Australians who have been recognised for contributions to the Australian community. If you have views on this issue I would love to hear them: [email protected]

Pressure is on us to conform to significant changes in the way not-for-profit organisations such as the OAA are being regulated. Although we are titled an association we are in fact a company and are required to manage ourselves as a community. Indeed the high profile we enjoy in the community supporting Australia’s honours system demands exemplary performance from all levels of management from regional groups to the company board. To this end, National Secretary Roger Dace has worked hard with a small team to completely review the underpinnings of our organisation — our constitution, our by-laws, our procedures — [See

his report below]. National Treasurer Geoff Vincent is achieving similar successes in building a financial administration that will make us compliant with the changing laws.

A significant outcome we are hoping to achieve is to be listed to receive tax-deductible donations to further the work of the Association and improve our outreach to communities we support at national, branch and regional levels. We do much now; imagine where we could be with a significant flow of philanthropic funds into our system to further the fine objects of our Association — “to foster love of and pride in Australian citizenship and to uphold the high principles and prestige of the Order of Australia”.

National Membership Director Colleen Thurgar and the National Office are working hard to further empower the organisation through the introduction of a new internet-based membership system [see report below].

We want the support of the grassroots of the organisation to build membership, communicate on events and manage their own affairs. We are also thinking of reaching out to other communities within and without the association to extend the knowledge of the Order and the Association.

A changing organisation by Chairman Peter McDermott AM CSC


Governance For all members a key element of the 2012 conference

is the annual general meeting and this time the National Committee is seeking approval for a revised constitution.

In 2010 the National Committee established a governance subcommittee which was charged to review the OAA constitution to ensure its continuing relevance and its compliance with the Corporations Act and contemporary administrative and legal practices. After review by the National Committee the draft recommendations for a new constitution were brought together under the professional guidance of one of our members, Mr Richard d’Apice AM.

This draft has been circulated for discussion to all branches and is available to members on the association’s web site, www.theorderofaustralia.asn.au. Hard copies are available from the National Office by providing a C4-size stamped, self-addressed envelope. Comment on this draft constitution should be through branch committees by 1 December 2011.

The governance subcommittee also recommended a number of changes to the Association’s by-laws, reflecting the

updating of the constitution and other changes to respond to changes in legal obligations.

Approval of the by-laws is a responsibility of the National Committee but copies of the proposed revised by-laws are also available on the web site.

Subject to the approval of the membership at the 2012 AGM, the new constitution and by-laws will come into effect at the close of that AGM. Send an email Earlier this year the National Committee approved plans to update the membership management system to make it readily accessible to members and directly responsive to the

needs of branches and regional groups. The first stage, to change over to a modern computer-based program, has gone well and in the next edition of The Order we will explain how members and volunteer officers at national, branch and regional group level will use it.

Those members with email addresses can help by authorising their use to send important information. A recent email about annual membership renewals resulted in 129 “bounces”. Please send the Membership Secretary a quick email [email protected] with just your name and postal address in the text to help us update our records.

A great deal of progress continues to be accomplished by the branches in all

States and Territories with an increasing presence of success in the rural, regional and outback areas. Our members reside across this great nation and in international destinations. The recent good works in London, UK, in Canada and the USA all underline the progress in hand.

This edition of The Order is now strongly supported by advertisers, many of whose principal operators are members of this Association. We have commenced with strong advertising support from the tourism industry and we would warmly welcome a wider range of other advertisers to join us and further support The Order as a great publication for members.

By Deputy Chairman Bill Galvin OAM A time to progress


17

Senior appointmentsDr Ian Watt AO has been appointed

Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He had been Secretary of the Department of Defence and previously had been Secretary of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

Dr Watt’s successor at Defence is Mr Duncan Lewis AO. He has held appointments as a Deputy Secretary in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and, more recently, as the National Security Adviser on international, national security and defence issues.

The Government has accepted the recommendations of the Defence

Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal inquiry into recognition of Australian Defence Force personnel who served as peace-keepers from 1947 onward.

The tribunal recommended that:No change be made in the present prac-

tice of an award of the Australian Serv-ice Medal or Australian Active Service Medal being the appropriate form of recognition for participation by ADF personnel in peace-keeping operations;

The Australian Government should not establish a new medal for general or specific recognition of peace-keep-ing service, to be awarded to ADF personnel who have taken part, or in the future take part, in peace-keeping operations; and

No action be taken by the Australian Government to recognise the award

US Air Medals awarded to Australian veterans

Peacekeepers not to get special medal

Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie AC DSM CSM officially handed

over the command of the Army at a parade in Canberra on June 24.

After 43 years of service, including peace-keeping roles in East Timor and the Solomon Islands and combat and training missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chief of Army Lieutenant General Gillespie handed over command to Lieutenant General David Morrison AO.

The host of the parade and Deputy Chief of Army, Major-General Paul Symon AO, thanked and farewelled Lieutenant General Gillespie on behalf of the Army.

Lieutenant General Gillespie, who joined the Army at the age of 15 as an

apprentice, expressed his gratitude to his colleagues, friends and family for keeping his feet on the ground during his illustrious career.

His successor, Lieutenant General Morrison, has wide-ranging command experience, having served as the Head of Military Strategic Commitments and Deputy Chief of Army. Most recently he has been Army’s first Forces Commander.

The parade was attended by current Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Angus Houston AC; the incoming Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General David Hurley AC; Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Mark Binskin AO; Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Ray Griggs AM and New Zealand Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Richard Rhys Jones.

of the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize to UN peacekeepers.The government has accepted also

the tribunal’s recommendations after its inquiry into recognition of members of Rifle Company Butterworth for service in Malaysia between 1970 and 1989. It recommended that:No change be made to the medallic enti-

tlements which currently attach to serv-ice with Rifle Company Butterworth in the period 1970 to 1989;

No change be made to the medallic entitlements which currently attach to service with any other unit of the Aus-tralian Defence Force at Butterworth in the period 1970 to 1989 or since 1989.The Tribunal’s full report is available at

www.defence-honours-tribunal.gov.au. Further information on Defence honours and awards is available at www.defence.gov.au/medals.

Eleven veterans of the Korean War have been awarded the United

States Air Medal for service in Korea. The awards were presented by United States Ambassador Jeffrey L. Bleich in Canberra recently.

The medals have been awarded to veterans from the Royal Australian Air Force’s Number 77 Squadron, who flew in support of the 5th United States Air Force during the Korean War.

Authorised by President Roosevelt in 1942, the US Air Medal is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the armed forces of the United States, shall have distinguished himself by meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.

Those honoured are:Sergeant Ronald Bastin, of Forster,

NSW; Sergeant Peter Coy, of Sunshine Coast, Qld; Flying Officer Ronald Guthrie, of Newcastle, NSW; Sergeant William Monaghan, of Canberra; Flight Lieutenant Hartley Shearn, of Adelaide, SA; Sergeant Spencer Seaver, of Sydney; Sergeant Billie Collings, of Canberra; Sergeant Robert Macintosh, of Adelaide; Pilot Officer John Newham, of Sydney; Sergeant John Seaton, of Sydney; and Squadron Leader Ross Glassop, born in Sydney (posthumous).

Chief’s farewell to the Army

Vice Admiral Russ Crane AO CSM handed over command of the Royal

Australian Navy to Vice Admiral Ray Griggs AM CSC at a ceremony in Can-berra in June.

Vice Admiral Crane’s legacy includes preparation for the introduction of the new amphibious capability into service

and the reform of Navy’s culture through New Generation Navy, which defined Na-vy’s 10 “signature behaviours”, focusing on people, performance and professional-ism as a guide to Navy’s desired culture.

The new Navy chief, Vice Admiral Griggs, was most recently Deputy Chief of Joint operations.


Australia’s Navy has a new chief

Retiring Chief of Army Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie congratulates the incoming chief, Lieutenant General David Morrison.

18 ADVERTISING FEATURE

Skills will be critical to Australia’s economic prosperity.

Forward-thinking companies are demonstrating how apprenticeship/training programs can help solve two related problems facing Australian business and society: skilled labour shortages in many key sectors; and a painfully high rate of youth unemployment. Solving these two problems will contribute to sustainable prosperity in our business sector and help create a healthier Australian society.

Through policies and practices, business and community leaders can ensure that their organisations invest in the skills they need to compete locally and globally. Those human capital investments will help ensure adequate resources are available and to help them meet their social responsibility objectives while boosting productivity.

The number of people entering the Australian workforce is declining, even as our postwar cohort of skilled workers — 42% of the current workforce — is marching toward retirement. As they depart, our enterprises will be scrambling to replace them.

Our other nagging problem is a high rate of youth unemployment. Despite years of economic growth, approximately 5% of working-age Australians are unemployed and on welfare. That’s far better than what the USA and EU countries are experiencing but, among 15-19-year- olds not in school, our unemployment rate is dramatically higher — 23%

nationally, and more than 55% in some areas (NW Melbourne).

Left unattended, today’s skills shortages will get worse. According to Skills Australia, the nation will need 2.4 million new workers with Certificate III level skills by 2015 and 5.2 million by 2025 because of projected retirements. Yet given the number of young people in the labour pipeline who are achieving those levels, many forecast positions will not be filled, hamstringing growth in many sectors. That will be bad for business and bad for our low-skilled fellow citizens who, because of globalisation, are in direct competition with billions of people in Asia, Latin America and Africa who will work for a few dollars a day. It will also put enormous pressure on the public purse, eroding the ratio of non-contributors to taxpayers. In the mid-60s that ratio was 1 to 22. Today we have one recipient of benefits for every five working people and that ratio is projected to get worse — unless we take corrective action.

Practical solutions

While many positions in business and industry require university degrees, most do not. Skills acquired through apprenticeships and training can open the door to rewarding careers in Australia’s automotive, business, horticulture, hospitality, health-care and the building trades.

WPC Group is in the business of connecting young people with the training they need to get ahead in the real world. We provide a bridge

between school and the world of work, linking government programs, motivated individuals and employers. We also provide the "secret ingredient" of every successful apprenticeship/traineeship program: experienced mentors. Our national field-based mentors draw on their own deep industry experience to counsel program participants, keep them on track toward success and provide liaison with their employers. This arrangement assures high-level benefits for both young workers and participating companies and it explains why 80% of our young people reach their certification goals instead of the national average of 48%. Almost all continue on to productive working lives — a win-win-win for them, their employers and the Australian economy.

Here are a few lessons we have learnt that make implementation of skill-building programs more successful:• Make apprenticeship/training

programs attractive by demonstrating a long-term commitment and by providing rock-solid management support.

• Offer attractive pay and show participants a "career ladder" to progressively more responsible and better-paying positions within your enterprise.

• For trade apprentices, make a three-year commitment. These are skill-building programs and they build real value for you and your apprenticed employees.

• Make sure that every apprentice or trainee has a mentor. An effective mentor transfers organisational knowledge while supporting and guiding. The bonds of loyalty and trust that develop between young people and their mentors are the basis of employee satisfaction and retention.

• Design your apprenticeship/training programs around your company’s unique needs. These programs shouldn’t be about charity but about creating measurable value for your enterprise and a hand up to your employees.

NICHOLAS WYMAN has been CEO of WPC Group since 2006. He began his career in the hospitality and services industry as an apprentice chef and won the Australian Apprentice Chef of the Year Award 1988. He went on to captain Australia’s gold medal-winning Culinary Youth Team. He often speaks on the issues of youth and workforce development, both nationally and internationally. Mr Wyman earned an MBA and has completed several executive education programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Connecting young people with training to get ahead


'That he had decreed that a Vili’s meat pie and a bar of Cadbury’s milk chocolate decorate his coffin and that he called his autobiography, published in 1979, Ladies’ Legs & Lemonade, probably tells us more of the human nature of Hugh Reskymer “Kym” Bonython.'

15 September 1920 – 19 March 2011

A state funeral was held in Adelaide in March for Hugh Reskymer “Kym”

Bonython AC DFC AFC, often referred to as “a legend in our own time”.

Those able to attend the funeral, conducted by Bishop Ian George AO in St Peter’s Anglican Cathedral, Adelaide, would have found the occasion uplifting in the recognition and celebration of a full life, lived almost to the extreme.

Kym Bonython was born in Adelaide, the youngest of six children of Sir John Lavington Bonython and Lady Jean Bonython. He attended St Peter’s College, Adelaide, after which he studied accounting.

When World War II interrupted his studies he joined the Royal Australian Air Force, began training as a pilot and served in areas of combat in New Guinea and the (then) Netherlands East Indies. He rose to Squadron Leader by war’s end.

In September 1944, Squadron Leader Bonython was awarded the Air

Force Cross and in February 1946 the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the war Kym indulged his passion for jazz.

Before the war, and at the tender age of 17, he had hosted an ABC radio jazz show.

Apart from wartime interruption, this continued for 38 years, finishing in 1975.

His many other interests and business pursuits included the promotion and participation of speedway motor sport. He became a hydroplane champion and in 1980 he was one of the inaugural inductees of Australia’s Speedway Hall of Fame.

Not surprisingly, he suffered a number of serious injuries in this time. In 1985 he achieved his aim of bringing the Formula 1 car race to Adelaide.

Kym also had a passion for art and began his collection in 1945. In 1961 he opened his first gallery, the Bonython Art Gallery in North Adelaide. In 1966 this moved to Sydney and opened as the

Hungry Horse Gallery in Paddington.His love for art never failed but it

must have been devastating for him when a large part of his vast collection was destroyed in the 1983 bushfires that engulfed his beloved Mt Lofty property “Eurilla”. He was a champion of Australian art and artists and was widely acknowledged to have fostered the work of Brett Whiteley. He wrote several books on modern art.

In public life he served on the Adelaide City Council and was Chairman of the South Australian Jubilee Board 150. He was a board member of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Musica Viva Australia and the Australia Council.

He was one of Australia’s leading supporters of the monarchy, chairing the No Republic Committee in the 1998 Constitutional Convention.

He also gave active support to the issue of euthanasia.

In 1981 Kym Bonython was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

In the Australia Day Honours of 1987 he was made Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), in recognition of his service to the community, particularly as chairman of the SA Jubilee 150 Board.

That he had decreed that a Vili’s meat pie and a bar of Cadbury’s milk chocolate decorate his coffin and that he called his autobiography, published in 1979, Ladies’ Legs & Lemonade, probably tells us more of the human nature of Hugh Reskymer “Kym” Bonython.

We were proud to have him as a member of the Order of Australia Association, SA Branch.

State funeral for the legend that was Kym

19The Order, Spring 2011

Simon Newcomb OAM, who received his award on Australia Day

2007 with the citation “For service to the sport of rowing in Queensland through administrative and coaching roles”, competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Now he concentrates on his dream of making the sport of rowing available to all children in all Australian schools.

When he retired in 2003 he set out to establish a second “grass roots” youth rowing program to give all young children the chance to row.

Initially he received fierce opposition from state and local government but, in his own words, “‘No’ meant a fight.”

Tenacity prevailed and in October 2010 the first stage of the first new public rowing club to be built on the banks of the Brisbane River in nearly a century was opened.

The building had been designed to withstand flooding, something not expected to be tested within a year of opening by the Brisbane floods earlier this year.

Although sufficient warning allowed

most boats to be taken to high ground, the loss of infrastructure and equipment, amounting to $400,000 including the pontoon, was heartbreaking.

Simon’s account of the flood and, in particular, the aftermath and the strong support for cleaning up the site, volunteers coming from all sectors of the community, was inspiring, as were the unsolicited donations of building

materials and equipment. Simon reminds those interested in his aims that tax-deductible donations through the Australian Sports Foundation will assist the youth rowing program.

Members wishing to learn more about the program or to arrange a visit to the club can contact Simon at [email protected] or phone (07) 37013444.

Out of the flood From Professor Tony Webber AM, Chairman,Order of Australia Association Queensland Branch

“... the flood and, in particular, the aftermath and the strong support for cleaning up the site, volunteers coming from all sectors of the community, was inspiring ...”

All hands on roof

20

Foundation scholars spread their wingsTwenty-four young Australian university students have

now been honoured by receiving The Order of Australia Association Foundation Scholarship. The award criteria are based on leadership potential, academic excellence, community involvement and a demonstrable need for financial assistance to complete the course effectively.

Each year the Foundation, in consultation with the donor of each scholarship, selects the tertiary institution and course of study for that scholarship award. An outstanding complement to the scholarship is the mentor system, whereby the Foundation also provides each scholarship awardee with a mentor who has received an honour in the Order of Australia and is eminent in the professional career chosen by the awardee. The mentor provides professional support and guidance to the student.

To date, all states and territories have hosted awardees and the number of universities involved is growing. So too, are the fields of study. Many individuals, regions and branches conduct fund-raising to assist the The Order of Australia Association Foundation in its quest to support future leaders.

Rebecca Evans was selected for her excellent academic record, even though she needed to work multiple part-time jobs to support herself independently. Still, Rebecca found time to volunteer as a night-time respite carer for Family and Children Services. No wonder her mentor, Northern Territory identity Mrs Wendy James OAM, says, “Rebecca has been a worthy recipient of the award. She has realised her potential and ambitions.” [Photo next page]

As a school student, Rebecca was inspired to become a teacher by an outstanding teacher she once had. She has always been emphatic that she does not want to be just a good teacher but, rather, a teacher of excellence. During her course Rebecca had several school placements, which gave her a thorough perspective of the joys and challenges of teaching. She quickly gained the respect of staff and students alike and has opened many opportunities for the future. This in itself shows her worth when principals of schools recognise her potential as a future leader in education. With Rebecca there is always a total commitment to the task in hand and a keen perspective on what is needed in the future. As a result, life has purpose and elements of chance are factored in and able to be coped with.

On her recent first overseas trip Rebecca was thrilled to see, first-hand, the world from the perspective of others, the actual places made famous by history and the interconnectedness of people and places. As she commences her full-time career this month Rebecca is poised for a rewarding future.

The donor of Rebecca’s Scholarship was The Order of Australia Association. Her mentor is Mrs Wendy James OAM (assisted by Rosemary Burkitt OAM and Sister Elizabeth Little OAM).

When he graduated in 2009, Laurie Pearcey was awarded prizes in

both International Studies and Asian Studies. He accepted the position of Visiting Fellow in Pacific and Asian History at the Australian National University. In March 2009 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Australia China Business Council which is the leading organisation dedicated to promoting trade and investment between China and Australia. Working with the chairman and board of directors, Laurie is responsible for coordinating the council’s national engagement with corporate Australia. He oversees research, policy and corporate governance as well as managing vital key relationships between the Australian Government and the Chinese Consular Corps. This position covers major bilateral visits between Australia and China, including the recent Australia China Economic and Trade Co-operation Forums, coinciding with the meeting of the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, respectively, at Beijing and Canberra. Before this visit Laurie organised Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang’s only public engagement in his landmark visit to Australia.

“So far, I have led three trade delegations to China,” says Laurie, “including a major mission focused on low-carbon building and sustainable development. This one was to the Shanghai World Expo 2010. My other exciting work is with Australian and Chinese resource and business corporations and, through the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism Industry Advisory Panel, we are focused on the Sino-Australian tourism relationship.”

This is an excellent conduit for those members who do not have the resources to fund a scholarship in total. The donor of such a scholarship is listed as The Order of Australia Association. The funds assist students to pay tuition fees, living allowances, text books and equipment. A committee oversees all requests for financial assistance.

So many awardees having benefited now from our scholarship scheme, we have myriad stories to tell of their achievements and the way they are assuming positions of importance in Australian society.

In this issue we have reports on Laurie Pearcey, a 2006 recipient, who took International Studies (Asian Studies) at the University of New South Wales and Rebecca Evans who, in 2008, was awarded a scholarship for her studies in Teaching and Learning at Charles Darwin University, in the Northern Territory.

Laurie is now involved in leading the Australia China Business Council. Rebecca graduated at the recent ceremony in Darwin, receiving her degree from the Chancellor, the Hon Sally Thomas AM. [Picture opposite]

In between, Laurie has assisted also in the ties between the Australia China Business Council and the University of New South Wales to forge a strategic partnership focused on building education and research links between the University and China. He has also just become a Director of the NSW-based McKell Institute progressive think tank. Laurie is a great example of our scholarship recipients' assuming leadership positions in their chosen fields for the benefit of Australia. The donor of Laurie’s scholarship was Westfield Foundation.

His esteemed mentor is Mr Sam Wong AM.

Carving out careers with Foundation help


Laurie Pearcey

21

Wendy James OAM has dedicated her life to furthering opportunities

in her beloved Northern Territory and, except for five years, she has spent all her life there. As a child she was evacuated to Perth in 1942 during World War II. After Cyclone Tracy, in 1974, she was evacuated again but returned within the month to help with the reconstruction of the family home and the re-establishment of pre-schools in Darwin.

Her schooling was completed in Perth, Alice Springs and Darwin. Upon leaving school Wendy qualified as a dental nurse and enjoyed the distinction of becoming the first dental nurse to work with the mobile dental units in the Territory in such places as Channel Island Leprosarium, Katherine and Tennant Creek. She married in Katherine and has four sons.

Although contributing to the wellbeing of the community at large, Wendy has a particular interest in helping women achieve legal and social equality and has striven to expand services for women living in towns and remote country areas.

She worked tirelessly and held executive positions in the YWCA and Penguin Club of Australia. In her role as honorary organiser of Penguin Clubs in the Northern Territory, Wendy established five clubs, including one in Alice Springs and the unique Katherine- based Penguin Club of the Air. In 1986 she became a Life Member of the Penguin Club of Australia.

Other prestigious appointments have been to the Northern Territory’s Women’s Advisory Council (appointed by the Chief Minister as inaugural convener) and the National Women’s Consultative Council; Member of the NT Bicentennial Committee; convener of the United Nations Australia Association Status of Women Committee (NT); the Legal Aid Commission; NT Cancer Council;

Women in Politics Group; and the selection panel for Northern Territorian and Young Territorian of the Year.

Wendy has a keen interest in the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, has qualified as a Certified Education Volunteer and has been director and president of the Museums and Art Gallery NT Foundation.

Spare time is taken with reading, sewing, cards, tennis, swimming, gardening and bush camping in remote areas.

In June 1998 Wendy was awarded the Medal of The Order of Australia for “services to the community through the promotion of women’s issues in the Northern Territory”.

In 1998 she was recognised by the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory with a Women’s Achievement Award for her “outstanding contribution to the Northern Territory”.

Chancellor the Hon. Sally Thomas AM awarding Rebecca Evans with her degree.

Foundation mentors are the backboneThe Order, Spring 2011

Mrs Wendy James OAM

The Order of Australia Association FoundationChairman: Hugh Morgan AC; Secretary: Adj Professor Brian O’Keeffe AO; Treasurer: Darvell M Hutchinson AM.Old Parliament House,18 King George Terrace, Parkes ACT 2600Ph/Fax: 02 6273 5995 Email: [email protected]

Mark Hassall (right), one

of the Order of Australia Association Foundation’s 2009 Scholarship Awardees, has been awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for 2012 for South Australia.

The prestigious scholarship offers a unique opportunity for postgraduate students to study at the University of Oxford, a position that Mr Hassall, a graduate in Medical Science from the University of Adelaide, will take up in October next year.

Announcing the award at Government House, the Governor of South Australia, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC RANR, said Mr Hassall was an

exceptional candidate in an extremely high-quality field of eight young South Australians.

“The Rhodes Scholarship has a tradition of acknowledging academic excellence and recognising the potential for scholars to show future leadership and make an outstanding contribution to society,” Governor Scarce said.

“I congratulate Mr Hassall on his outstanding academic achievement and will watch with enormous interest as he embarks on an exciting study program ...

at the University of Oxford.”The Rhodes Scholarship perpetuates

the commitment to learning, research and humanity of businessman and philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, who died in 1902 leaving his estate to fund the scholarship.

Candidates are selected on the basis of outstanding intellect, character, leadership and commitment to service. The Rhodes Scholarships support students who demonstrate strong propensity to emerge as “leaders for the world’s future”.

Rhodes Scholarship to Foundation awardee

Ian Mathews AM reviews Books Books Books Books Books

Every Australian has a national park relatively close to home. We are

blessed for they are all special in their respective ways.

The Namadgi Natonal Park sits on 106,000 hectares and covers almost half of the Australian Capital Territory, just south and west of Canberra.

The park fits neatly into the national capital’s role.It is part of the Australian Alps National Parks, which stretch from Baw Baw National Park in southern Vic-toria through Kosciuszko National Park to the Brindabella National Park, and links wildlife corridors 1000km north to Queensland, to the inland plains of NSW and the NSW south coast.

However, for those who may not be able to visit Namadgi (or for those who prefer a book to walking), this publica-tion offers a treat.

22

Some people do not like shooting ani-mals for sport or even for food. Some

do and Barry Barratt OAM is one of them. His collection of articles in hunt-ing magazines tells of his introduction to guns and hunting when he was 12, about 80 years ago. In those Depression years, bringing home a rabbit for a family meal was something to be proud of.

He took a variety of jobs which eventu-ally led to him establishing his kangaroo culling business, initially for crayfish

bait, then pet food and, after regula-tions changed, for human consumption. He sold his export company later to concentrate on farming, which included the production of mohair. International conferences in South Africa introduced him to small-animal hunting.

As with many hunter-farmers, Barry became interested in conservation, including Rotary’s Native Bird Nestbox Project.

He now has a “no-shooting” property in the Adelaide Hills area, frequented by kangaroos, birds using nesting boxes and surplus stock from the Adelaide Zoo as well as tree-blossom researchers from Adelaide University.

Hunting TalesBy Barry BarrattPublished by Peacock Publications, Norwood SA ISBN 978 1 921601 39 2RRP $24.95 plus $7 postage.

Game and conservation in his sights

Dancing with Warriors: A Diplomatic Memoirby Philip FloodPublished by Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne. ISBN 978 1 921875 20 5RRP $39.95

When you have worked for

federal governments for 50 years and been Secretary of the De-partment of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Director of the Office of National Assess-ments, and headed Australia’s aid agency, AusAid, you know quite a few secrets. Add to that CV being High Com-missioner in London and Bangladesh and Ambassador in Jakarta, you get the idea that Philip Flood AC (above) knows what he’s talking about.

In his diplomatic memoirs, Dancing with Warriors, Flood remains diplomatic in keeping the secrets he has sworn to. He traces meticulously the development of Australia’s postwar relationships with the US, Britain, the new Europe and especially its role in the neglected impor-tance of Asia.

He believes Australia has been well served by its senior politicians of both major parties — these are the warriors he dances with — but he believes they have let us down “by failing to convey to the nation the need for a far greater knowl-edge and understanding of the languages and cultures of Asia”.

Even as a junior officer, Flood was taking notes, encoding despatches and observing important international confer-ences and, even more importantly, their participants.

Thus this book is a view of contem-porary history told from the perspective of not just an observer but an active contributor.

It is a rare glimpse into how policy is made, shaped, implemented away from the shallow gaze of pollsters.

With a new inquiry into Australia's en-gagement with Asia taking place, Flood’s insights into new Asian nations such as Bangladesh, the re-creation of Cambodia and East Timor take on an immediacy not usually associated with professional reminiscences.

For those who are still thirsty for a few tidbits, one cannot go past “a dev-astating portrait of [Sir William] McMa-hon, who was at that time the Treasurer, and the deputy leader of the Liberal Par-ty” penned by the then Liberal Minister for External Affairs, Paul Hasluck, who was later to become Governor-General. Worth buying the book just for that!

It is richly illustrated with coloured photographs some giving an idea of the grandeur of the park. Others are close-ups of flowers, lichens, birds, spiders and in-sects. The text covers geology, Aboriginal and settler history.

All Australia’s national parks are “the best”, from Kakadu to Freycinet, so let’s not compile a league table. Simply enjoy them, including Namadgi.

• • •The Nature and Society Forum has

dedicated its latest booklet by Stephen Boyden, Our Place in Nature: past, present and future, to the memory, en-couragement and trust of the late Emeri-tus Professor Frank Fenner AC, the former head of the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University.

Namadgi: A National Park for the National Capital by Christine Goonrey, Sonja Lenz, Clive Hurlstone, Max Lawrence, Kevin McCue, Adrienne Nicholson; published

by National Parks Association of the ACT ISBN 978 0 9802854 6 8 RRP $25

More reviews next page


Books Books Books Books Books Reviewed by Ian Mathews AM

23

Starlight: An Australian army doctor in VietnamBy Tony WhitePublished by CopyRight Publishing, Brisbane. ISBN 987 1 876344689RRP $33

War is usually about killing or get-ting killed — but getting injured is

often worse.As an army doctor on a 12-month tour

of duty in Vietnam, Dr Tony White AM takes us through a war that is rapidly receding from memory as others take its place.

He quotes World War I veteran Cap-tain CS Stormont Gibbs, who said, “Like most people I had not realised that the horror of war is wounds, not death.”

White’s job was to treat wounded soldiers — fast.

He writes about honing skills such as “getting a lot of chaps out of and into choppers in a hurry”. How’s this for a hurry:

“They carry seven people each and we averaged five seconds on and three seconds off...”

The beauty and sincerity of this book is that its recollections come from letters written home at the time and diary en-tries — but some were too keenly felt to be recorded at all — until now. Two best mates handling a non-issue shotgun, one shot point blank, the other killed later by a mine.

The soldier who had accidentally shot his best mate was never able to tell his family in his letters home. They learned of it through a question by the author at a reunion 40 years later.

Land mines and helicopters are part of the history of the Vietnam war. White records two deadly minefield incidents that serve to mark a doctor's role at fluid front lines: “The task was to make a rough order of priority, identifying those needing urgent first aid from those not in acute need. There was a third group, those mortally wounded, beyond any help.”

Former judge and human rights activist Marcus Einfeld is no longer an Of-

ficer of the Order of Australia. That hon-our and others were stripped from him after he was sentenced to a term in prison for perjury and for intending to pervert the course of justice. The case was notori-ous for Einfeld’s claim that Australian academic Teresa Brennan was driving his car when it was detected speeding — but Brennan had died three years earlier in Florida after a hit-and-run accident.

Fiona Harari has written a factual mystery that will test fiction writers to match it for bizarre twists and turns.

She writes, “Although they lived es-sentially separate lives, they have become inextricably linked — in the public con-sciousness and on the public record — as two smart, successful Australians with remarkable lives shaped by exceptional careers. By now they ought to have been looking back with pride at their many achievements. Instead he has been jailed and denied almost every privilege he ever earned, and she is dead. Ultimately they have been bound by tragedy.”

Harari begins her book with a back-ground of the Einfeld family’s generous and lasting contribution to Sydney, the law, the NSW Parliament and the Jew-ish community since the family migrated from the UK in 1909. She writes of the Brennan family’s involvement with jour-nalism in both Melbourne and Sydney.

We tend to believe we know all there is to know about reports that have filled newspapers, television and radio bul-letins for so long but we don’t. We know only what served to us. Fiona Harari has been meticulous in putting much of that old news into perspective. Does her book answer all the questions this bizarre case raised? Time will tell — or perhaps not.

A Tragedy in Two Acts: Marcus Ein-feld and Teresa BrennanBy Fiona HarariPublished by Victory Books, Melbourne University PublishingISBN 978 0 522 85810 5RRP $34.99

We take them for granted, which doesn’t mean to say we are not

grateful for the voluntary work that lifesavers do. We just expect them to be on duty whenever and wherever we want to swim.

John Ramsland OAM, Emeritus Pro-fessor of History at Newcastle University, reminds us of their sacrifice both in time donated and lives lost. Despite its restric-tive title, Ramsland's book would be of interest to every surf lifesaver and beach swimmer.

By concentrating — as was his brief — on Cook’s Hill Life Saving and Surf Club, just south of Newcastle, NSW, he has been able to tell specific stories instead of a generalised history of surf lifesaving — but what a history it is, tracing club members from its founda-tion in 1911 through beach exploits, two world wars and natural disasters. Every surf club can probably match Cook’s Hill story for story — and all would wish they had John Ramsland to tell their stories.

This is a large-format book, generously illustrated from past and present.

It has both a useful index and a “fact finder” for those who bet on remember-ing dates when boasting in company at the bar.

Cook’s Hill Life Saving & Surf Club: The first hundred yearsBy John RamslandPublished by Brolga Publishing, Melbourne ISBN 978 1 921596 64 3RRP $59.99


Lost insignia?The Order of Australia Association

cannot replace lost insignia or lapel pins.You can obtain replacements from:

The Secretary, The Order of Australia, Government House, Yarralumla ACT

2600. Telephone: (02) 6283 3659

email: [email protected]

24

A visit to Washington DC by OAA President the Hon. Shane Stone

AC QC in July — his first visit there since the creation of the North American Regional Group of the Association — was the excuse to honour him.

“It was our first chance for a full dress parade,” said Group Chairman Gregory Copley AM, “and we wanted to make it a special occasion for Shane, his wife, Mrs Josephine Stone AM and their son and daughter, Jack and Madeleine.”

The Group is the largest geographic region for OAA but has the fewest members, most scattered across an area that includes the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. As a result, getting a

gathering of OAA members is difficult. Nonetheless, Gregory Copley and his

wife Pamela were delighted to host a reception on July 29 in the Gold Room at the prestigious Cosmos Club in Washington’s Embassy Row.

North American Group Vice-Patron, Ambassador the Hon. Kim Beazley AC (the Governor-General acts as patron of the Group) joined the reception to welcome the Stones and several other special guests, including former Prime Minister the Hon. John Howard AC and his wife Janette; representatives of two other chivalric orders, His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, Sovereign Grand Master

of the Imperial Ethiopian Orders and his wife Lady Saba Kebede; Lord Ashcroft KCMG, who heads an inquiry into Britain’s Sovereign Bases in Cyprus; OAA Queensland Branch Chairman Professor Tony) Webber AM; Dr Paul Scully-Power AM, the first Australian astronaut and wife Frannie; and US citizen Tom Corcoran OAM, of the Australian Embassy, Washington.

“This was truly an historic gathering,” said Mr Copley. “It saw a meeting of three amazing Australian political leaders from a very significant time in our history — a former Prime Minister, a former Deputy Prime Minister and a former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.”

From left: Former Prime Minister John Howard AC; OAA President the Hon. Shane Stone AC QC; His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, Sovereign Grand Master of the Imperial Ethiopian Orders; and North American

Group Chairman Gregory Copley AM.

In The Cosmos Club (from left): Tom Corcoran OAM; Australia’s Ambassador to the US the Hon Kim Beazley AC; Gregory Copley AM; Josephine Stone AM; OAA President the Hon. Shane Stone AC QC; Professor Tony Webber AM; former Prime Minister the

Hon. John Howard AC; and Dr Paul Scully-Power AM.

Unique gathering in WashingtonThe Order, Spring 2011

Preserve the memory and acknowledge the support of others

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Phone and Fax: (08) 8278 8530Mobile: 0411 415 817

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We can help you preserve the memory of your Investiture and acknowledge the support of family and associates who contributed to your award.We offer to :

• supply you with a high-quality replica of your medal, with the

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of your award;

• prepare a display frame with two of your photographs from your Investiture day, as illustrated, or to your individual design.

We offer other display options too, such as a smaller frame with a replica medal, ribbon and plate. If you use a replica medal in a frame you can display the original in its box.You might also consider having additional displays made for family members or for your supporters.

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The Order, Spring 2011