Radio Interview - ABC Perth Mornings

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC PERTH MORNINGS
THURSDAY, 25 APRIL 2024

SUBJECTS: Anzac Day.

HOST, NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Matt Keogh is the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. He is representing the Australian Government at the Dawn Service there. And, Minister, thank you so much for joining me from Villers-Bretonneux. Good morning to you.

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: Good morning, Nadia. Great to be with you.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: You're there to represent the Government, but you also have a personal connection to that area?

MINISTER KEOGH: I do. My grandmother's cousin fought in Flanders Fields and I had an opportunity to visit his grave while I've been here, which sort of brings it all home at a real personal level for me and I guess sharing the experience of so many Australians I've met over here that are doing exactly the same thing, learning more of their own history and their connection to the thousands of Australians that came and fought here on the Western Front and that we'll be commemorating at the dawn service this morning in Villers-Bretonneux, in the same way that so many Anzac services today are commemorating those that have fought for Australia and served Australia ever since.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Minister, one of the things that's been raised by listeners this morning is the way those local people in those towns are still so grateful for what Australians did. I just wonder what that is like for you. Have you had a chance to talk to people about that?

MINISTER KEOGH: I have, and I have to say every mayor in every village I've met has been so welcoming of me. But I was also speaking to some other Australians here the other day and they told me how some villagers in Villers-Bretonneux, came up to them and gave them a hug and thanked them for what their relatives did over a century ago. And that just speaks to the warmth that Australians receive, but also the way in which we are held by people who live here. And you can understand that when you drive through these areas and see on street corners and the corners of fields, these - so many small little cemeteries, memorials to people that fought and died here. It's something that the people who live here and their families that lived here at the time just live and breathe every day.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: I'm speaking this morning to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Matt Keogh, and he joins us from Villers-Bretonneux, and he'll be heading to the Dawn Service there shortly. Minister, you'll also share the story of another West Australian, an Armadale local who has no known grave. What can you tell us about this soldier?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, like so many people who were living in Armadale at that time, he was a timber worker. It was Lance Corporal Albert Ticklie. He worked in the timber industry. He signed up and came over to France and he, like so many, was involved in multiple battles and, you know, living the Anzac spirit. He was involved in saving some of his comrades in battle, but then also ended up being shot himself. And he died over here. And like so many, his name ended up on the memorial as one of the people missing, someone who died here but whose grave has never been found, his body has never been found. And we remember particularly all of those people that, you know, fought here but have never been able to be identified. But I have to say it's also amazing how we are doing the work still now to this day, identifying the remains of Australians who fought here and being able to bring that sort of sense of closure for their families even now. And I was able to participate in a ceremony yesterday with an Australian family where we've been able to do just that.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: And how did they react? Can you share a bit of that with us?

MINISTER KEOGH: It was a very moving ceremony and for them, more than a century later, but hearing this story of how a grandmother, the sister of George Hook who had fought and died here, still used to speak about her lost brother, and that was a story that they had received and heard from her and how moved she was and how emotional she was about that. And for them to be able to stand in a war cemetery here to participate in that ceremony with an identified grave, [indistinct] everybody who participated in that ceremony.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: The technology is a little difficult at the moment. Every now and again we're getting some little glitches and I do apologise. He's on the other side of the world in Villers-Bretonneux, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Matt Keogh. My guest this morning. Have you met - now, I've been told on the text line that there's some students from Collie High School there. Have you met them?

MINISTER KEOGH: I have met the Collie High School students. In fact, we held a little ceremony with them at Fromelles, at the war cemetery there. And laid a wreath and one of the students played the Last Post and read another one read the Ode. And it's been wonderful to spend a bit of time with them. And they will be at the Dawn Service this morning as well. I think its an amazing opportunity, for the students from Collie and the other school groups that I've met, to be able to come here and to continue that tradition, not only of people visiting the Western Front, but learning about their own family members. Some of them have brought the medals of their great-grandparents and even further back, who fought here, and they had their own stories to share with me.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Hopefully we've still got you. And Minister, finally, you'll be speaking at the Bailey Bridge Inauguration. Can you tell us a bit about that?

MINISTER KEOGH: Yeah. The Bailey Bridge Inauguration. Amazing event, amazing piece of work done by the Australian Engineer Corps and their association. A Bailey Bridge is the sort of bridge set up during conflict to enable troops to move over bodies of water. And this is a real practical embodiment of that connection that we were talking about before Nadia, the way in which we have that connection with the French. They wanted to do something practical, as engineers always do. So, they've provided a memorial bridge that crosses one of the canals here in Amiens, and it matches one that's in Brisbane as well. And it was great to have school students from Queensland and school students from the local community here participating in that ceremony and seeing the way in which engineers that fought in Vietnam, engineers that have been involved in the Australian Defence Force since have come together to recognise the engineers that fought here on the Western Front. And we always think about the images of soldiers in the trenches about to go over, but people had to design and dig those trenches and the tunnels on the Western Front, and that was the Engineer Corps. And it's great to see their legacy honoured and in that relationship between France and Australia.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Oh, look. Thank you so much. And it's wonderful to be able to share some of those stories. Minister, you've got a busy day ahead. Thank you so much for giving us some time. Really appreciate it.

MINISTER KEOGH: Thank you, Nadia. It's been great to be with you.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Matt Keogh there, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs.

END

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