Mrs IRWIN (5:30 PM) —The 13th of April this year marked the 60th anniversary of the awarding of the first Victoria Cross to an Australian of the Second World War. Corporal John Hurst Edmondson of the 2nd/17th Australian Infantry Battalion, from Liverpool in New South Wales, received the award posthumously for conspicuous bravery at Tobruk in Libya.

On the night of 13 April 1941, a platoon of the 2nd/17th Australian Infantry Battalion, in which Corporal Edmondson served, was helping to defend Tobruk from land and air attacks. That dark Easter Sunday night, a party of about 30 German infantry broke through the wire defences and established themselves with machine guns, mortars and two small field pieces. It was decided to attack them with bayonets, and a party consisting of one officer, Lieutenant Austin Mackell, Corporal Edmondson and five privates took part in the charge.

During the counterattack, Corporal Edmondson was wounded in the stomach and neck by machine-gun fire, but he continued to advance under heavy fire and killed one enemy with his bayonet. Later his officer had bayoneted a German soldier who grasped him about the legs while another German attacked him from behind. Lieutenant Mackell called for help, and Corporal Edmondson immediately came to his aid and, in spite of his wounds, killed both the enemy, saving his officer's life. After being carried back to his post, Corporal Edmondson died of his wounds after asking that other wounded men be treated before him. The citation accompanying his award says:

The seven-man patrol routing of the German machine-gun post was a turning point in the four-day Tobruk Easter battle in which Corporal Edmondson's platoon bore the brunt of the German attack. It saw the beginning of the eight-month Tobruk siege, the longest in British military history, and the end of German supremacy in North Africa.

After the action, the commander of Australian forces in the Middle East, Lieutenant General Thomas Blamey, wrote to Corporal Edmondson's parents expressing his tribute to their son:

There is now only one surviving member of the platoon, Mr Doug Foster. He was 16 at the time, and recently remembered John Edmondson in the following way:

Mr Speaker, on 10 April this year, the Liverpool sub-branch of the Returned Services League of Australia, in conjunction with the 2nd/17th Battalion AIF Association, Liverpool City Council and the John Edmondson VC Memorial Club, held a commemorative ceremony in honour of Corporal John Hurst Edmondson VC. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the ceremony, which did much to rekindle the memory of Liverpool's finest son.

Mrs IRWIN —John Edmondson is remembered in many ways throughout Liverpool. The local RSL club takes the name of the John Edmondson VC Memorial Club. Edmondson Avenue in Austral is named in his honour. And a new suburb of Edmondson Park is situated close to the Edmondson family home which still stands today.

The other day as I walked along Macquarie Street, Liverpool, just after reading the background for this speech, I thought of a young John Edmondson walking along that same street—that quietly spoken, reserved man that Doug Foster spoke of. I thought also of his parents walking along that same street, and their sadness at the loss of their only son. And I thought of the words of General Blamey in his letter to Corporal Edmondson's parents:

For the people of Liverpool, Corporal John Hurst Edmondson has been an inspiration. His name and courage are remembered 60 years after his passing and will, I am sure, be remembered for many years to come.

The honourable member across the chamber interjected to ask why I did not attend that memorial service, which I should have probably attended. As you are aware, Mr Speaker, I was on a delegation with you and other members of the House. (Time expired)