24 BURWOOD

th

SANDAKAN
REMEMBRANCE
SERVICE

Sunday 6 August 2017 | 11.00am

Sydney Sandakan Memorial | Burwood Park | Burwood

Lest We Forget
ORDER OF SERVICE
HYMNS Georgio Khoury
Burwood Girls High School Brass Ensemble St Patricks College, Strathfield
and singers
Burwood Girls High School
CALL TO ORDER
THE LORDS PRAYER
ENTRY Fr Michael Deasey
Homebush Boys High School Drum Corps St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood

MOUNTING OF MEMORIAL WREATH LAYING CEREMONY

Trinity Grammar School Army Cadet Unit
ODE OF REMEMBRANCE
Australian Armed Forces Re-enactment
SGT Kevin Finnerty
Heritage Unit
Trinity Grammar School Army Cadet Unit
MASTER OF CEREMONIES
THE LAST POST
Mr Michael McMahon
Burwood Girls High School
General Manager
Burwood Council ONE MINUTE SILENCE
WELCOME ROUSE
Cr John Faker Burwood Girls High School
Mayor of Burwood and Chairman of the
Sandakan Community Educational Committee POEM
Anthony Assaf
CALL TO WORSHIP St Patricks College, Strathfield
Fr Michael Deasey
St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood NATIONAL ANTHEM
Burwood Girls High School Brass Ensemble
READING ONE and singers
Raehana Taoube
PLC Sydney FINAL BLESSING
Fr Michael Deasey
POEM St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood
George Maksour
St Patricks College, Strathfield HONOUR GUARD WITHDRAWS
Trinity Grammar School Army Cadet Unit
READING TWO Australian Armed Forces Re-enactment
Billie Ronis Heritage Unit
PLC Sydney
CLOSING
REMEMBRANCE ADDRESS Ms Jodi McKay MP
Colonel Michael Miller RFD Patron of the Sandakan Community Educational
Official Secretary to the Governor of New South Committee
Wales
HYMNS
PRAYERS Burwood Girls High School Brass Ensemble
Fr Michael Deasey and singers
St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood
Olivia Sader
PLC School

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MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR OF BURWOOD AND CHAIRMAN
OF THE SANDAKAN COMMUNITY EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE
Thank you for joining us this morning for the Sandakan
Remembrance Service as we take a moment to reflect on one
of the darkest moments in our nations history.
Another year has passed since we gathered in front of the
Sandakan Memorial however our communitys commitment to
remembering our fallen heroes remains stronger than ever.
I would like to welcome the family and friends of the brave
Australian Prisoners of War who never returned from
Sandakan including 23 men who came from our local
community.
As Chairman of the Sandakan Education Committee, I am passionate about raising
awareness of the story of Sandakan and ensuring that the legacy of our diggers is never
forgotten, which is why I believe it is important that we meet in front of this special memorial
every year to pay our respect.
These men deserve to be recognised alongside our national heroes, for the courage and
strength they exhibited while facing such adversity. To achieve this we must continue to
share the story of Sandakan with younger generations of Australians.
I would like to thank the local schools and organisations who are taking part in todays
service and those who provided a donation.
Cr John Faker
Mayor of Burwood
Chairman Sandakan Education Committee

MESSAGE FROM THE PATRON OF THE SANDAKAN

COMMUNITY EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE
The Sandakan war memorial is a special place in Burwood
Park and so we meet here once again to remember those
soldiers taken during the fall of Singapore and held in POW
camps in Sandakan, Borneo.
We are fortunate to have this memorial in our local area, and I
thank Burwood Council and Mayor John Faker for their role in
ensuring Burwood is a place for reflecting on the atrocities of
those death marches and the sacrifice of those who lost their
lives in defence of our nation.
As Patron and as the Member for Strathfield, I pass on my
sincerest thanks to the Sandakan Community Educational Committee for their support
in organising this service each year. Their commitment is deeply appreciated and was
acknowledged recently in the NSW Parliament. In giving that speech to the Legislative
Assembly, I made a commitment to our community that we will never forget the incredible
sacrifices made by those who suffered at Sandakan. Todays service is part of ensuring the
Sandakan story is shared and remembered, always.
Ms Jodi McKay MP
Member for Strathfield

24th Burwood Sandakan Remembrance Service 3

HYMNS
Burwood Girls High School Brass Ensemble and singers

CALL TO ORDER
(Please stand)
ENTRY
Homebush Boys High School Drum Corps

MOUNTING OF MEMORIAL
Trinity Grammar School Army Cadet Unit
Australian Armed Forces Re-enactment Heritage Unit

MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Mr Michael McMahon
General Manager
Burwood Council

WELCOME
Cr John Faker
Mayor of Burwood and Chairman of the Sandakan Community Educational
Committee

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CALL TO WORSHIP
Fr Michael Deasey
St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood
We are assembled here in the presence of Almighty God to remember before
Him, with gratitude and pride, those who perished at the Sandakan camps, on the
Sandakan to Ranau death marches, or at Ranau, the honoured dead who gave up
their lives for their country.

Each of us has come this morning with deepened expectations: Some to honour a
loved one, a friend, or a comrade-in-arms. Others to mourn a death or celebrate a
life. All of us to commit ourselves to live worthy of the suffering and sacrifice which
was the lot of so many in that tragic episode of our nations history.

Let us pause in silence to ask God to fulfil his purpose in us and to enable us to do
our duty in a manner befitting those we honour and who have gone before us.
(A brief period of silence will be observed)

May we in this service give thanks to God for his goodness to us in the past,
remember the sacrifice of those who have helped preserve what we enjoy in the
present, and commit ourselves to the future, praying that we might be worthy
inheritors to all we enjoy.

READING ONE
Passage from Sandakan POW survivor, Mr Nelson Short
Reader: Raehana Taoube
PLC Sydney
You saw these men every day when you were getting treated for ulcers. The dead
were lying there, naked skeletons. They were all ready to be buried. Day after day
they were just dying like flies in the camp, malaria, malnutrition; and you thought
to yourself, well how could I possibly get out of a place like this? And even after
escaping, youd say to yourself, well, right, weve escaped, now what are our
chances, where are we going?
Nowhere. Were in the middle of Borneo, were in the jungle. How could we ever
survive?
Sydney was a long way from there.

24th Burwood Sandakan Remembrance Service 5

POEM
Written by John Lewis who lost his Uncle Hedley in 1945, at the POW Camp at
Sandakan
Reader: George Maksour
St Patricks College, Strathfield
Heavy load, muddy track,
miles to go, no turn back;
men die
bodies lie
on the Ranau Road.
Come on mate, cant be late;
Up you get, now youre set.
feet fumble
men stumble
on the Ranau Road.
Escape or die, escape and die?
jungle voice, Hobsons choice;
shots heard
no word
on the Ranau Road.
On they go. Cant be slow.
Miles to go. No smoko.
men die
bodies lie
on the Ranau Road

READING TWO
Passage from Sandakan POW survivor, Mr Richard Braithwaite
Reader: Billie Ronis
PLC Sydney

I had nowhere to go because of the gloom, and the surrounding vegetation was
all heavy jungle, thorny. I just sat down on a log there and watched those reptiles,
insects, crawling past, thinking well, this is where it happens, mate, youre finished.
After about half an hour just sitting, all of a sudden I just thought, no youre not
finished. Youre not going to die in a place like this; And I became really angry. I
just put my head down like a bull and charged that jungle, and I dont know, it just
seemed to part. Maybe someone was looking after me.

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REMEMBRANCE ADDRESS
Colonel Michael Miller RFD
Official Secretary to the Governor of New South Wales

PRAYERS
Fr Michael Deasey
St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood

Our Father God, as we remember especially on this day those who were prisoners
of war and used as forced labour at Sandakan and on the forced marches to
Ranau, we give thanks for their courage, their devotion to duty, and the sacrifice to
life itself that we may have the opportunity to live in peace and freedom.

We thank you for their lives and for what they meant to families and friends, for the
love, joy, and on occasions, the tears some amongst us shared with them and for
them.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer (say together)

THE PRAYER OF ST FRANCIS

(say together)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
For your mercy and truths sake.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
With Augustine we praise God

24th Burwood Sandakan Remembrance Service 7

Reader: Olivia Sader
PLC Sydney
Lord, as we are surrounded by memories of the grim reality of war,
we pray for peace in our world. Prosper the efforts of all those who labour to
bring understanding and reconciliation between nations, that all people may
learn to live peacefully together, to the honour of your name.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer (say together)
Reader: Georgio Khoury
St Patricks College, Strathfield
Almighty God, direct the hearts and minds of those who bear responsibility
for the government of the nations of the world. May they seek honour and justice,
restrain evil and oppression, and seek the true prosperity of their people and the
welfare of all peoples.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer (say together)
Reader from Burwood Girls High School
We pray for those currently serving in our defence forces, especially those in
peace keeping roles, that all may be given courage in the face of danger and
may always seek to uphold that which is right, even in the midst of conflict.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer (say together)

THE LORDS PRAYER

Fr Michael Deasey
St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood
Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray:
(Recite together)
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power and the glory,
For ever and ever, Amen.

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WREATH LAYING CEREMONY
Those laying wreaths are asked to drop their wreaths to the wreath marshals on
arrival and to sit in their allocated seat in front of the wreath laying tables.
Colonel Michael Miller RFD, Official Secretary to the Governor of New South Wales
Cr John Faker, Mayor of Burwood and Chairman, Sandakan Community Educational
Committee
Ms Jodi McKay MP, Patron and State Member for Strathfield
The Hon. Craig Laundy MP, on Behalf of the Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Veterans Affairs

Burwood Councillors

Mrs Mary Bryant, Senior Vice President, Ashfield RSL sub-Branch

Mr Gregory Read SC, President Cumberland RSL sub-Branch
Mr Geoff Lazar, President, Burwood RSL sub-Branch
Mrs Marta Folkard, Ashfield RSL sub-Branch
Mr Phillip Pollard, Warrant Officer, Kingsgrove RSL sub-Branch
Mr Claude Bennie, Five Dock RSL sub-Branch

Mr Tony Farina, NSW President National Malaya & Borneo Veterans Association
Mr Geoff Turner, 2/4th Pioneer BTN A.I.F.
Mr Norman Hand, New South Wales National Servicemans Association and Affiliates
Incorporated Burwood and District Sub Branch
Ms Gladys Barnes on behalf of her father Mr Ralph Shields and all Sandakan POWs

Graham Green, President, Club Burwood RSL

Dr Frank Alafaci, President of the Rotary Club of Five Dock
Burwood Lions Club

Mr Matt Walsh, Military Police Association of Australia and Defence Reserves Association
Tracy Watt, Chief inspector Burwood Local Area Command
Ferg Stewart - Deputy Local Controller, NSW SES Burwood Unit

Yvonne Brown, Burwood Girls High School

Raehana Taoube, PLC School
Vice-Captain, MLC School Burwood

24th Burwood Sandakan Remembrance Service 9

St Patricks College, Strathfield
Strathfield Girls High School
Jayanth Kumarlingham, Homebush Boys High School

Mr Greg Bray and Family, in remembrance of his Grandfather SGT John Bray of 2/10th Field
Company
Mrs Noni Lyall on behalf of her grandfather, Private R.P Clark who died at Sandakan POW on
24/2/1945
Mr Garry Mortimer and Mrs J. Kelly on behalf of SGT Henry William Mortimer 2/10th Field
Ambulance POW Sandakan
Mr James Kelly in remembrance of I /CPL Frederick William Kelly
Ms Jennifer Smith in memory of her father Thomas Ebzery
Ms Patricia Hazell

After those people who have indicated they will be laying wreaths as part of the
Service have done so, an invitation to lay private tributes will be announced.

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ODE OF REMEMBRANCE
SGT Kevin Finnerty
Trinity Grammar School Army Cadet Unit

Their glory shall never die,

The whole wide world is their sepulchre
Their epitaphs are written upon the hearts of mankind
And whenever there is talk of noble deeds
Their names will be held in grateful remembrance.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

We will remember them (say together)

THE LAST POST

Burwood Girls High School

ONE MINUTE SILENCE

ROUSE
Burwood Girls High School

Lest we forget

Lest we forget (say together)

24th Burwood Sandakan Remembrance Service 11

POEM
Reader: Anthony Assaf
St Patricks College, Strathfield

Im dreaming of Australia,
The land we left behind.
Dreaming of the loved ones
We could always bear in mind.
Although its only fancy
Our hearts within us yearn,
But well make up for lost moments
When to Aussie we return

Thered be sailing on the harbour,

The showboat our first choice.
Or maybe wed be dancing
Listening to our sweethearts voice.
Although its only fancy
Our hearts within us yearn,
Gee well make up for lost moments
When to Aussie we return.

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NATIONAL ANTHEM
Advance Australia Fair
Burwood Girls High School Brass Ensemble and singers

Australians all let us rejoice,

For we are young and free;
Weve golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in natures gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In historys page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

FINAL BLESSING
Fr Michael Deasey
St Pauls Anglican Church, Burwood

HONOUR GUARD WITHDRAWS

Trinity Grammar School Army Cadet Unit
Australian Armed Forces Re-enactment Heritage Unit

CLOSING
Ms Jodi McKay MP
Patron of the Sandakan Community Educational Committee

HYMNS
Burwood Girls High School Brass Ensemble and singers

24th Burwood Sandakan Remembrance Service 13

Thank you for attending todays Remembrance Service.
Refreshments will be now be served.
To ensure you receive an invitation to attend next years service, please sign the
guest book in the marquee.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Sandakan Community Educational Committee gives sincere thanks to the
following for their involvement in the service:
Ashfield RSL sub-Branch
Burwood Council
Burwood Girls High School Brass Ensemble
Burwood Lions Club
Colonel Michael Miller RFD, Official Secretary to the Governor of New South Wales
Cr John Faker, Mayor of Burwood and Chairman, Sandakan Community
Education Committee
Cumberland RSL sub-Branch
Homebush Boys High School Drum Corps
Fr Michael Deasey, St Pauls Anglican Church Burwood
Mr Michael McMahon, General Manager Burwood Council
Ms Jodi McKay MP, Patron of the Sandakan Community Educational Committee
PLC Sydney
St Johns Ambulance Australia Volunteers
St Patricks College, Strathfield
The Honourable Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Emergency Services and Minister for
Veterans Affairs
Trinity Grammar School Army Cadet Unit

THE SANDAKAN COMMUNITY EDUCATIONAL

COMMITTEE
Cr John Faker
Mr Michael McMahon
Ms Gladys Barnes
Ms Mary Bryant
Mr Kevin Connelly
Mr John Fisk
Mr Colin Hodges
Mr Russ Kenny
Mr Clyde Livingstone

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24th Burwood Sandakan Remembrance Service 15