Blamey deserves praise, not to be cancelled

STUDENTS at Lake Albert Public proudly recite, as part of their school song, “By grim determination, Blamey led the nation.”

Thomas Blamey did indeed lead Australia during both World Wars and we should be forever grateful his leadership helped prevent a possible Japanese invasion in the 1940s.

He commanded the Second Australian Imperial Force and the I Corps in the Middle East and later was Commander-In-Chief of the Australian Military Forces and Commander of Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific Area under famed American World War II General Douglas MacArthur.

When at times all seemed lost and there were well-founded fears Australia would be taken over, Blamey stood tall.

Wagga Wagga should be forever proud of this man who is one of our very own.

Born at Lake Albert, one of 10 children of a humble migrant farmer and butcher, Blamey rose through the ranks to become this country’s most decorated military man.

The Home of the Soldier, 1st Recruit Training Battalion at Kapooka, is appropriately named Blamey Barracks in his honour.

REMOVED: The magnificent portrait of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey which has been unjustly taken down from Wagga Wagga City Council’s meeting room.

He has a local hotel and a suburban street in Turvey Park named after him.

But for all of those deserving accolades, he has now become the latest to fall victim to the wokeness permeating society.

Cancel culture has caught up with this hero, this true khaki icon.

An unnamed Wagga City Councillor apparently took offence at Thomas Blamey’s picture in the main council meeting room, asked for it to be taken down and, shamefully, this was done.

Why?

What possible reason could there be to have Blamey’s portrait removed and placed in a broom closet?

Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, CStJ, ED, was an Australian General of the First and Second World Wars.

He was a first day lander at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 – that most famous of days – and is the only Australian to attain the rank of Field Marshal.

Was he perfect?

No.

GIFT: The portrait of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey was presented to the City of Wagga Wagga in 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of his death.

But who is?

I have always been supportive of our council and its officials.

Our city is the best regional centre in Australia and our council does its best to keep it that way.

But to think an elected representative would object to one of our greatest soldiers in this, the only inland regional centre with all three arms of the Australian Defence Force present, is an insult.

It is an affront to Blamey, to every single person wearing a uniform in the ADF today (especially at our own Army base), to every Veteran, to our garrison city and, quite frankly, to our intelligence.

It seems these days it is somehow acceptable for a shopkeeper to display offensive words and anti-Semitic material in a Fitzmaurice Street business window, yet not right for a homegrown war hero’s picture to be displayed in our local council chambers.

This is not how Wagga Wagga should be.

I enquired as to where Blamey’s picture was at Thursday’s citizenship ceremony and was told it had been placed in storage because of a councillor’s recent complaint and previous concerns expressed about it.

The portrait is a splendid one.

I have featured its significance in my annual ANZAC booklet next year, noting the painting had been presented to the people of Wagga by the Kapooka Commandant Colonel Michael Crane (later General and Distinguished Service Cross and Bar, now retired) and all ranks of Blamey Barracks on 26 May 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of Blamey’s death.

As The Daily Advertiser’s editorial of that day pointed out: “Although his career and life was not beyond controversy and many of the warts have been well documented, little is written about the role Blamey played in establishing the Allied Intelligence Unit, which employed coastwatchers in New Guinea and Rabaul to report on Japanese military movements.”

What an insult now to Blamey’s memory and to what Kapooka (and its magnificent band) does for our city to have this gutless act carried out in the building there to serve the people of this military city.

The unnamed councillor who complained would not be the type to place their head above the parapet and defend our nation against our enemies.

Thomas Blamey’s portrait should be returned to its rightful place in the chambers forthwith.

Today.

And the councillor who raised their objection should issue an immediate apology … and then go and do what they were elected to do and fix a few potholes instead of trying to rewrite history.

Lest We Forget.

Michael McCormack is the Federal Member for Riverina and a former Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Defence Personnel, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC and Assistant Minister for Defence.

– Article first appeared in The Daily Advertiser, Saturday 14 December 2024.