By Alistair Gray, with content sourced from the order of service.
After a long wait by local national servicemen, there were smiles as the Bribie Island National Servicemen’s Memorial Park was finally dedicated. About a hundred local servicemen, war widows, family, friends and dignitaries gathered to mark the occasion. They were there to commemorate the service of 287,000 young Australian men who were required to undertake compulsory military training in the Army, Navyand Air Force between 1951 and 1972 and toremember the 212 who died during active service in Borneo and Vietnam.
“The servicemen were pulled from all walks of life, with many later filling senior roles in politics, business, the professions and the community,” Master of Ceremonies for the event Gareth Cotter said.
Their number included two Governor-Generals, Bill Hayden and Dr Peter Hollingsworth; three Tasmanian governors, Sir Guy Green, William Cox, and Peter Underwood; Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fisher and federal minister Wilson Tuckey; Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett; Queensland Deputy Premier, Sir Liew Edwards, Major General Rod Fay, businessmen Lindsay Fox and Sir James Hardy. Television personalities Clive James and Graham Kennedy, entertainer Normie Rowe, tennis player Lew Hoad, cricketer Doug Waters and racing car legends Peter Brock and Dick Johnson and many others who have made significant contributions to our community.
The late Barry Vickary of Toowoomba founded the National Servicemen’s Association on November 28, 1987, to seek a better deal for all national servicemen and to secure medals for recognition of service. Thanks were passed to the Bribie Island RSL sub-branch and the RSL Community Club for allocating the grounds to become a memorial park.
Wreaths and plaques were laid by widows and family members and various dignitaries, including Member for Longman Terry Young, Member for Pumicestone Ali King and City of Moreton Bay division one councillor Brooke Savige.
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