President of the Lenah Valley R.S.L. Sub-Branch, Mr Andrew McShane, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys.
Anzac Day is a time to remember the families who have given ‘service above self.’
Because it is easy to forget what that phrase means, this year let us examine the example of families that founded this club 80 years ago and our connection to them. In that way we can commemorate their extraordinary service.
At the time of the First World War Lenah Valley was not a Hobart suburb. The men who lived here enlisted in the district of ‘New Town’. They thought they were going to Europe to fight the Germans, yet before that, they would arrive in the Middle East to fight the Ottomans in: Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Australian soldiers fought three battles in Gaza in 1917. We don’t know how many men and women went from Lenah Valley to WWI. We do know that 173 went from ‘New Town’. Thirty-five would lose their lives.
What do we know of the men who formed the first Lenah Valley R.S.L. Club committee in 1946? Almost all of them were born in the 1880’s and 1890’s. In their teen years they knew of war; a Tasmanian Military Contingent went to the Boer War. A little more than ten years later it would be their turn. Fourteen of the nineteen founding committee members were WWI veterans with a combined 28 Years of war service; 3 were at Gallipoli. A number were wounded and one lost his arm.
The First President was Mr E.E. Dean. He enlisted in 41st Bn, A.I.F. served for 1 year and a half before being discharged as a Gunner. He was one of 7 Dean’s who enlisted.
Vice-President Mr J.A. Turnbull, was lucky to miss WWI but enlisted for WWII at the age of 46 years to serve 4 years reaching the rank of Major. 6 Turnbull’s enlisted for service in WWI
Mr T. Cairnduff, the second Vice-President, served for over 2 years as a Private in 12th Bn, A.I.F. 3 members of the Cairnduff family enlisted.
The Treasurer Mr B.H. Whittle served for 3 and a half years as a Private in 40th Battalion A.I.F.11 Whittles from Tasmania served in WWI.
Mr P. Everard was the Vice-Patron. He served for over 4 years as a Sergeant in 12th BN, A.I.F.
These were ordinary young men who gave up their youth to defend freedom. They returned from the war traumatised both physically and mentally. They set about building new lives, having a family and starting a job. Only 20 years later war came again; these men were in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. It was their sons and daughters who would go to war this time. In 1946 a small group of Lenah Valley families got together to build a club for returning men. A place where they could be helped to find a job and given support at home. We forget what a difficult time this was. Hobart had over 1000 children without a father in 1946.
Let us pause for a moment to remember a typical daughter from these founding families. Assume she was born in the 1930’s and is still living in Lenah Valley today. Hers was a family that had suffered in WWI. Not just by the experiences of her father but by the war years of anxiety and hardship experienced by her mother and grandparents. She knew of close relatives who had been killed. In her early years she was surrounded by more death. The Spanish flu pandemic infected one third of Tasmanians and killed 171. These were sombre dark days far worse than the Covid-19 pandemic. Life was not frivolous for her. She knew restrictions, discipline and duty. One learnt the benefits of saving; not just money but bits of string and brown paper bags. Soon she was a young woman who fell in love. But hers was not to be an easy romance. Only a brief time together before her husband or boyfriend sailed for North Africa, Malaya or New Guinea. It was time for her generation to go through the black days of fear and rationing. Following WWII we can imagine her circumstances as she tried to raise her young family. There were no jobs for young mothers. Her father was trying to support men returning from the war. Even if she could find work she would be paid half the wage of a man in the same job. If her husband returned she would cope with his wounds both physical and mental. Yet with or without a returning husband she kept the family together, fed and clothed them as they grew up into a new world of freedom and plenty.
Today she’s in her 90’s. Her mother and father are dead, her husband and her brothers and sisters are dead. Most if not all their friends are dead. She is afraid to spend money; that has to be kept for a rainy day. She doesn’t want to be a bother to others. She doesn’t know how to use a mobile phone or how to email or Skype. Many of these women are living amongst us largely forgotten, in social isolation. Their courage and self-sacrifice deserves to be remembered.
And let us not forget those of these women who actively supported this club through the Women’s Auxiliary. I have described the challenging lives they led, yet some found time to cater for function and raise funds. Long service office bearers included: Betty Grubb, 18 years as a Treasurer and 7 years as President, Mrs Betty Coppin, 18 years as Secretary; and Mrs Marie Kays, 10 years as President and 8 years as Secretary.
They and their families show us we have the ability to face challenges together and to overcome them, to put community before self, to be determined, self-reliant and strong.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating, a man who had lost forebears in WW I and WW II, when speaking of the legend of ANZAC said:
‘What the Anzac legend did, by the bravery and sacrifice of our troops, was reinforce our own cultural notions of independence, mateship and ingenuity, of resilience and courage in adversity. We liked the lesson about supposedly ordinary people; we liked finding that they were not ordinary at all. Despite the fact that the military campaigns were shockingly flawed and incompetently executed, those ordinary people distinguished themselves by their latent nobility’.
ANZAC DAY is about our extraordinary families who bear the cost of war for life. It is about the generations who have defended our freedoms and cared for their mates.
Today, with the dark clouds of war rolling over the Ukraine and the Middle East and gathering in the Indo-Pacific, the words of that great Athenian veteran and commander, Pericles to his own countrymen may suffice for ours – ‘Take these, then, as your example. Like them, remember that prosperity can be only for the free, that freedom is the pure possession of those who have the courage to defend it’.
LEST WE FORGET
ANZAC Day address: by LTCOL Peter Hodge, RFD, RAA (Retd) – at The Cenotaph, Lenah Valley RSL
Source: LTCOL Peter Hodge, RFD, RAA (Retd) served for 46 years. He was the Chief Instructor at the Reserve Command and Staff College and the Director of the Army Personnel Agency-Tasmania. Saturday 25th April 2026
...with thanks.
Photos: Paul Guo - Pauls Photography (https://www.paulphotography.com.au/)
