ANZAC Assembly
The following address was given by Mrs Kristin Stewart (Head of Ten Boom House) at our ANZAC Commemoration Assembly, Thursday 27 April.
Mrs Stewart served for 10 years in the RAN, serving on HMA Ships Darwin and Warramunga as well as postings and deployments throughout Australia, Southeast Asia and East Africa.
For every veteran, the thoughts and reflections running through our minds as we gather today to commemorate in services like this, are all different. All baring a range of experiences or emotions drawn from similar events and circumstances, but ultimately, all personally different. For me, today conjures up memories of my mates. The people I served with, young and old, surviving or not, who were issued a task to achieve, a mission to accomplish, a common goal to work toward. There were many of these experiences throughout my 11 years in the Royal Australian Navy which were rarely undertaken with the same group of people, rather a new task force, a new contingent, a new group of mates.
Such experiences can be likened to each year you embark on at school. Each year level has a target, a goal to achieve, a set of expectations within which to achieve that goal and the hope that you will get to the end of the year and celebrate your accomplishments together, as mates.
Mateship is defined as a cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship. Equality refers to the act of providing equal opportunities for everyone. When I joined the Navy I was issued the same booklet as any other 16 year old, outlining all the possible defence jobs available. The journey I chose was Logistician. Each year you are offered the same suite of subjects to choose from, the same extra-curricular programs to be involved in. The decisions you make and the opportunities you choose to take up, define your own journey and where it takes you. Who you embark on this journey with will likely become your mates united by common interests and missional commitment.
Loyalty as an element of mateship is perhaps the closest to my heart, being one of the Navy values during the time I served. Loyalty in the military refers to a commitment to each other and to the service of your nation. Your shipmates and colleagues should be treated with respect and courtesy at all times, even when under the most extreme of pressure. To embrace mateship and to be loyal is to ensure that even on your most difficult day, you find it within to acknowledge your classmates, allow them to have a voice and ultimately be kind.
Friendship is a relationship of mutual bonds between people. Think shared experiences. People who share an experience that is like no other are bonded by that experience. For myself, there’s only a select group of people who truly understand what it was like in South Sudan in 2011 as the country celebrated it’s independence because we are mutually bound by the experience. These are the friends I’ll reach out to when the news broadcasts report on continued conflict in this part of the world. For yourselves, these mutual bonds might be seen in Science class, cricket club, SIS teams. For our older students these friendships might include those at Bunnings, Coles or Target too as you embrace your part time work.
In my opinion, there is no greater privilege for a veteran than to see that the young people in our communities, at our sporting clubs and in our schools are embracing mateship. Caring and supporting one another, appreciating equality, remaining loyal and valuing friendships made along the way. The ultimate act of mateship is showing unconditional support for one another under the toughest of conditions. To our ANZACs, mateship meant everything. They were ordinary folk doing extraordinary things under duress. Mateship kept them going, it brought many of them home. Such a powerful life message for all of us to incorporate in our everyday lives.
