Today, we mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the signing of the armistice which brought an end to the First World War. It is a time for remembrance, but it seems not all our fallen heroes are being treated with the same amount of respect.

Sister Mary Nicolay trained under Florence Nightingale, and served as a nurse with the Western Australian forces in the Boer War from 1899 to 1901.

Private Charles Duff was born and raised in Welshpool. He served with the 11^th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and was twenty-one years old when he was killed in action in France, on April 7, 1917.

Private A. M. Griffiths served with the Australian Women’s Army Service in the Second World War. She passed away at the age of 44, leaving her husband, Warrant Officer 1^st Class I. R Griffiths, to raise their three children, Bessy, Leslie, and June.

Corporal Des Ellis served in Korea, and was home on leave recovering from his wounds when he was killed in a tragic motoring accident.

Other than their service, what each of these people has in common is burial in Perth’s Karrakatta Cemetery; that, and fact that their headstones are currently under threat of removal as part of the so-called ‘renewal’ processes being undertaken by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, with the tacit approval of the Western Australian state government. And unfortunately, they are far from alone.

Sergeant Billy Date, served with the 11^th Battalion at Gallipoli. A small white plaque now stands beside his headstone, like an insulting white feather. It reads “This grave is in a proposed Cemetery Renewal area. Please contact Client Services.” The subtext is clear. Billy and his mates will soon be removed, and all but forgotten.

Yes, names will be etched on brass plaques in some secluded corner of the cemetery, but actual burial plots, where family and grateful strangers alike can come to pay their respects, will be lost, and in time other graves will be dug over those of men and women who fought for the soil in which they lie.

Just last week, WA’s Governor and former defence minister, Kim Beazley, spoke of what he described as the intangible social compact that exists between Australian citizens and the service and veterans community. He went on to extend that, implicitly, to include their families, but I think the current situation at Karrakatta requires that we are even more explicit than that. We owe these men and women our continued liberty, and we owe their families not only a debt of gratitude for their service, but the reassurance that we will continue to show them our very deepest respect in years to come.

To say that, just 100 years after the guns fell silent on the Western Front, we can no longer visit the grave of, for example, Warrant Officer 1^st Class Alexander Rankin of the Australian Army Medical Corp, and pay our respects where his body lies, is to rubbish any such reassurance.

I have walked through Karrakatta in recent weeks, and the names and the stories are sadly too many to more than simply list. More than 100 souls, whose memorials are being threatened on the very day that we commemorate the silencing of the guns 100 years ago, with 100 bugle calls across our city.

One of them, Gunner J. A. Evans, served with the 8^th Field Artillery Brigade. The simple, pristine brass plaque on his headstone reads “His duty fearlessly and nobly done. Ever remembered.” Sadly, today, one of these statements seems truer than the other by a magnitude too tragic for us to even begin to quantify.

The 100 Memorials at Risk in Karrakatta Cemetery

1. Lance Corporal W. Anderson, 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital
2. Private H. M. Armstrong, 51 Battalion
3. Sergeant S. Atkinson, Royal Australian Engineers
4. Corporal G. Birchall, 11 Battalion
5. Lieutenant Commander P. R. Birchall, Royal Australian Naval Reserve
6. Private R. M. Bryson, 44 Battalion
7. Sapper R. R. G. Butcher MM, 2 Field Company Engineers
8. Corporal J. Cale, Corps of Signals
9. Petty Officer W. B. Clegg, Royal Australian Navy
10. Warrant Officer D. E. Collingwood, 2 Depot Unit of Supply
11. Private J. A. Collingwood, Australian Women’s Army Service
12. Corporal J. J. Copley, Army Ordinance Corps
13. Corporal K. H. Cormack, 2/11 Battalion
14. Private H. M. S. Craig, 11 Battalion
15. Private C. C. Cuthbert, 51 Battalion
16. Private S. P. Dale, Veterinary & Remounts Service
17. Sergeant W. H. Date, 11 Battalion
18. Trooper J. F. Davies, 10 Light Horse
19. Lance Corporal L. A. Denbigh DCM, 13 Field Ambulance
20. Corporal W. Dennerley DCM MM, Labour Service
21. Private H. V. Emery DCM, Labour Service
22. Surgeon Commander H. H. Field-Martell, Royal Australian Naval Reserve
23. Private E. S. Fishleigh, Army Medical Corps
24. Trooper L. L. Freeth. 10 Light Horse
25. Sapper C. C. Gibb, 3 Tunnelling Company
26. Private A. G. Glaskin, 11 Battalion
27. Private C. Golding, 5 Works Company
28. Private D. E. K. Granberg, 2/16 Infantry Battalion
29. Private A. M. Griffiths, Australian Women’s Army Service
30. Private W. E. Hackett, 2/28 Infantry Battalion
31. Lance Corporal H. Hall, HQ Guard Battalion
32. Private W. H. Harman, 2/11 Infantry Battalion
33. Private F. F. Hatton, 2 Machine Gun Battalion
34. Corporal L. Henson, Army Ordnance Corp
35. Private F. A. Higgins, 2/5 Commando Squadron
36. Private E. J. Hill, 32 Battalion
37. Sapper W. Hitch, Royal Australian Engineers
38. Sergeant F. A. Hume, Corps of Signals
39. Flight Sergeant D. C. Humphries, Royal Australian Air Force
40. Private F. W. Jackson, 2/1 HQ Guard Battalion
41. Private E. R. C. James, 51 Battalion
42. Private S. C. Jeffrey, 44 Battalion
43. Lance Corporal J. J. Jose, 11 Battalion
44. Private W. J. Kemp, 2 Pioneer Battalion
45. Private H. Kilpatrick, 10 Battalion
46. Gunner R. H. Leach, 10 Field Artillery Battalion
47. Private J. Leonard, 2/14 Infantry Battalion
48. Sergeant T. D. Lester, 10 Battalion
49. Private A. H. Levett, Intelligence Corps
50. Sapper J. G. Little, 2 Tunnelling Company
51. Sergeant G. T. Loane, 16 Battalion
52. Sergeant W. A. MacDonald, Royal Australian Air Force
53. Lance Corporal H. Makin, 2 Field Company Engineers
54. Sergeant C. C. Massingham, Royal Australian Air Force
55. Corporal G. MacDowall, 51 Battalion
56. Trooper H. McMurray, 4 Light Horse Regiment
57. Private G. R. McTaggart, 4 Machine Gun Company
58. Private M. J. McTavish, Labour Service
59. Sergeant W. Mead, 5 Field Ambulance
60. Regimental Quarter Master Sergeant P. Miller, 11 Battalion
61. Private W. T. Moody, 44 Battalion
62. Private C. V. Neave, Labour Service
63. Sergeant P. O’Brien, Army Personnel Depot
64. Private T. Orr, 16 Infantry Battalion
65. Gunner A. E. Page, Royal Australian Artillery
66. Private E. J. A. Palmer, 16 Battalion
67. Private W. Pennington, 13 Mixed Brigade
68. Lance Corporal A. H. Plint, 11 Infantry Battalion
69. Sergeant A. J. Plozza, 2/16 Infantry Battalion
70. Sapper J. Pope, 3 Tunnelling Company
71. Lance Corporal W. J. Prosser, Royal Australian Engineers
72. Leading Aircraftsman J. Prosser, Royal Australian Air Force
73. Warrant Officer 1 A. Rankin, Australian Army Medical Corp
74. Private C. V. Reeve, 24 Battalion
75. Private H. E. Ridley, 2 Special Unit
76. Trooper T. Robinson, 1 Armoured Regiment
77. Major A. E. Saggers, 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion
78. Lieutenant Colonel G. D. Shaw MC, 28 Battalion
79. Lieutenant J. Shorrock, 28 Battalion
80. Lance Corporal F. A. Silbury, 5 Pioneer Battalion
81. Private P. A. Smirk, 26 Works Company
82. Sergeant J. G. Steel, Army Ordnance Corp
83. Private C. W. Stone, 32 Battalion
84. Private J. L. Storey, 51 Battalion
85. Sergeant B. L. Strickland, 26 Infantry Battalion
86. Sergeant K. A. Strudwick, Royal Australian Air Force
87. Private W. W. Sutton, 2/11 IMF Battalion
88. Aircraftswoman L. J. D. Sutton, Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force
89. Private E. Taylor, 16 Battalion
90. Private A. W. Taylor, 8 Field Ambulance
91. Corporal L. Thomas, 2/11 Infantry Battalion
92. Leading Aircraftsman S. R. Treadgold, Royal Australian Air Force
93. Corporal P. W. Tucker, 11 Field Artillery Brigade
94. Warrant Officer 2 H. E. Vine, Army Pay Corps
95. Private G. Warren, 16 Battalion
96. Private J. Weir, 51 Battalion
97. Sergeant W. J. Wheatley, 2/5 Field Regiment
98. Sergeant G. A. Wilson, Corps of Elec. & Mech. Engineers
99. Driver F. A. Woodcock, 6 Motor Transport Company
100. Stoker Petty Officer G. A. Woodrow, Royal Australian Navy

There are many more besides.

It is my hope, on behalf of their families, and on behalf of all the Australians who owe them a debt of gratitude, that each of these heroes continue to rest undisturbed, and that we as a nation and a community continue to commemorate their service and their sacrifice in a meaningful and enduring way.

‘Renewal’ should never be about burying our past along with our dead. If anything, it should be about renewing our commitment to the ANZAC spirit and leaving our dead to sleep in peace.

Aaron Stonehouse is a Liberal Democrat Member of the Western Australia parliament.

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