Australians at War Film Archive

Yeah, I'm studying at University of Technology, Sydney and I'm doing a Bachelor of Business with a double major tourism and marketing, it's pretty good.

Yeah, she's at the same uni., she's at a different campus. She's doing Bio-Medical Science.

She's first year.

Four children, yeah. I'm the oldest and then there's Brooke, who's turning nineteen and Blair who's turning fourteen and Bethany who's twelve.

Yeah, well at first Dad

passed away 1st March last year, 1999 and my brothers and sisters were, Brooke was, she was doing her HSC [Higher School Certificate] and they were all at private schools and having a double income family, that was great. You know that was not a problem, but as soon as Dad passed away it was a bit of a problem financially and Legacy [Australian charity which aids war veterans and their families] helped us out with that, so, they were really good like that. They were able to stay there which was important for them at the time.

Well, they don't actually usually pay private school fees but they did in our situation just because the need was there and that was the school that they were at. They were the schools that they were at, so they knew that that was important so they were willing to pay that out for the year and since then we've been able to help ourselves out a bit more. So, just with Mum's job and everything so they've been able to stay there, it was just

that first year that was difficult. You have a lot of other things you're paying for so, like funerals and stuff so it's a bit difficult.

Yeah, well it was more a stability thing that was important for them at that stage because, I mean, losing your father's quite an emotional thing for you at the time and they needed to be there with teachers that they were familiar with, like learning to meet new friends

and things like that is really difficult at that sort of time. So, yeah that was really important for them. It didn't affect me as much, obviously, because I was at university so you have HECS [Higher Education Contribution Scheme] and things like that, that's not a problem but, yeah, for them it was really important, relationships and emotional wise.

It was, yeah. Brooke was in her HSC year and she was at William Clarke College and like with the help of the school and also Legacy, it

worked out really well, so all schools, all three schools were really good like that. They looked at, you know, making it more affordable and then what was agreed on, Legacy actually helped us pay for that.

Yeah, that's right. Like, each family is

delegated, if you want to say, their own Legatee. They work in districts, so we're a part of the Parramatta district and our Legatee is Legatee Richard Knight and he comes around, probably about once every two months now, roughly, that's just going off hand. But at the time it was probably at least once a week, which was really good and he comes around, sees how we're going financially, emotionally, all that sort of thing, but on the financial

area, he looks at the bills we've got and what we can afford and things like that and helps us out with all of that sort of thing. So, the fact that they take it back and are willing to look at it is just excellent because most places they go, well, we won't pay for that, we will pay for this, but they weren't like that at that stage, you know what I mean, they have rules and everything but they're just really helpful.

Oh, we had heaps of trouble with Centrelink. We initially before, like

we were receiving benefits from Legacy but when we went to get benefits from Centrelink they wanted to go through all of Dad's income and everything which made us, because when Dad was alive Mum and Dad's income together was, you know, we weren't, what's the word, we weren't eligible for it. So they were looking at Dad's income as well but he wasn't there but they refused to take that out of it because the form had him in there, like it... 'cause you have to

do your last tax year, so they refused to take him out of it which was just stupid because he's not around any more but they weren't willing to make allowances there so it was really difficult with that.

Yeah, once a year, as a family, we go away and there's other families from Legacy that come as well.

With that, they do lots of different camps, like one sister, Brooke, she's been over to Perth and they paid for the air flight, the actual camp, everything. She really enjoyed that and then Bethany's been on a horse riding camp and Blair, I think's been to Wollongong and this is all over the past year. So they do a lot of camps and things like that just to create unity and develop their children in themselves and things like that, they do a lot of things. They also, for tertiary students offer this one

called, it's like a Duke of Edinburgh [Award; a personal development programme for young people], I can't actually think of the name but it's like a self development course. So they're really into developing you as a person as well, which is I guess in a way a lot of what parents would do. So, they're willing to help out family wise as well, yeah.

Yeah, I guess so. Having the Legatee come around is a bit like a surrogate dad, if you know what I mean but he never tries to take on the responsibility of your father but he

definitely helps out with things like that if need be, yeah.

Yeah, he did. He was at Vietnam, he was a navy, I am not actually sure of the official title but he was on the boats, in the boiler room at one stage and then he was doing payrolls and things like that. But for Vietnam precisely he was on the ship and at one stage, I think, he was picking up soldiers from the front line and taking them back to

the boat to come back to Australia and things like that. That's pretty much all I know though.

No, not really. That's why I don't know very much. He didn't really like to talk about it, I don't think it was exactly a happy time, obviously, for him, it's not for most Australians but things like, you'd watch a movie and you'd hear a helicopter and stuff like that and he'd be like, ahhhh I didn't really want to, and you'd go, what's the matter? And he'd go nothing, nothing.

It was all just to do with Vietnam. He didn't enjoy the sounds of it, if you want to put it that way. Yeah, so we don't know very much about it.

No, he didn't. I think that was more a part of not trying to remember as much of it, if you know what I mean, although he was very proud of the fact that he could

you know, support Australian citizens and help out in that way at the wars. I think it was better for him if he didn't remember it, do you know what I mean? Because it didn't bring happy memories. I know there was one situation where he was on the ship and they were coming into Vietnam or the waters around it, obviously, and what the Vietnamese used to do is float the women and children in the water alive or dead with bombs in them and

out of the whole ship, two men had to stand on the decks and shoot them. Shoot the people because, well if they hit the boat, it was going to blow the boat up and Dad was actually picked and I know, emotionally, that really affected him. So, I think there was a lot of things that went on at the wars that a lot of the veterans wouldn't be happy to talk about because it brings back a lot of emotional hurt for them and I mean a lot of those veterans had to do things they didn't want to do and I think

I mean they had to do them but it doesn't bring happy repercussions for them in the end, so yeah.

Not so much that he wasn't interested in it. I can't say that he sat down every Anzac Day and watched the TV to watch the March and things like that. It was more like, you know when you have your one minute silence, it was a definite, you do your one minute silence and that was important so

I think it was more a deep feeling thing for Dad. It wasn't very, he didn't show it a lot, if you know what I mean, it was, yeah, I remember my comrades and my fellow sailors and things like that but it was more emotional for him, it was a personal thing.

Definitely now. Since Dad passed away,

it's not that I would go out and take part in the march but for instance, the last Anzac Day I was definitely a lot more interested in it. Watching the march, just I guess it's more of an emotional thing for me now, not having Dad around, you know that that was a huge part of his life. Being in the navy but especially going to Vietnam and you sort of want to learn a bit more about it and sort of take it on for him, if you know what I mean, like it's sort of hard to

explain. Before that I would watch the March but not the whole thing and it didn't mean as much and Dad had always brought us up to, you know, have your one minute silence and you remember what they did for you, what the men did for you and things like that. But it just means so much more now, like he's not around and it's, I guess, in a way a part, a way of sharing what was important to him.

Mmm, that's right.

Becoming more interested in Anzac Day?

Yeah, it's funny that you bring that, like bring that point up only because, to bring uni into it, one of my tourism lectures recently was all about that. Gallipoli and all that sort of thing and the fact that the tourism industry has boomed with it. I think, personally, like what we learnt in that but also what I think about it, is that people, the younger Australians are becoming, like they want to have that

connection, like what I said before about wanting to remember a part of what was a huge part of Dad. Like I think a lot of them are doing that as well, like they wanna go and they wanna, it's the whole feeling of the area because it's a way of taking part in what their fathers and grandfathers took a part in. I mean, definitely it's not a battlefield any more, a lot of it is fields or forest or whatever, but yeah I think it's just the aura,

if you want to say, of being there, being at the same place that their grandfathers and fathers were.

Yeah, I think that probably definitely has a part in it. It's the whole having a feeling of it, do you know what I mean?

Yeah. I think that's why it's more popular now.

Yeah. Well I know in our own situation, Legacy was in contact with us, well actually my poppa, which is my Mum's dad,

he rang Legacy because, knowing that Dad was a war veteran and they were in contact with us, actually around to our house within a week. Looking at helping us out financially and whatever else they could do, so they're really, obviously not very many people know what Legacy do. Like Badge Day for instance, my brother took the badges to school and a lot of the boys didn't actually know what Legacy, they might have heard the word Legacy, but they didn't actually know what they did and

what, who they were helping and things like that. So I think, for us it was very quick because we knew what, my poppa knew what Legacy did and knew that we would be, they would be able to help us. For a lot of other Australians though and Australian families, I think maybe not as quick only because they don't know that it's there and that they're willing to help, yeah. I think it's a public thing, you know publicity.

That's right.

Like, even with [the] Department of Veterans' Affairs we didn't even, I didn't have any idea that they existed, that there was an actual government body set aside for war veterans and their dependants and things like that.

You mean Legacy or DVA [the Department of Veterans' Affairs]?

Legacy or DVA?

Legacy, yeah that's alright. I get confused, there is two of them. What else do they provide?

Well for me personally, every tertiary student gets a monthly allowance,

depending on their situation. We get reviewed once a year and we send in our results every six months, from university, and we get reviewed on our own situation and they will look at the allowance like that. Like I said, there's camps and things like that that you can go on, self development, self discovery sort of things. Yeah.

Yeah, a lot. I mean, I think it's hard

being a single parent and supporting four children, like it does get difficult. Mum runs her own family business but doing that and then also having children and then trying to get the finance out of it, it just, it does get a lot. So, they take off the financial strain but also they help out a lot with the family, if they need to. These weeks away, for instance, or the weekends actually, the family ones, Mum pretty much has nothing to do with us kids, like we see her and

we, if we want to see her, we go and see her but the legatees take all the children away and do activities with them and whatever. So it's just, I think, an emotional break away as well and there's a house at Terrigal, I think it's Terrigal anyway, where the widows are allowed to have a week away each, once a year. So yeah, I think it's just providing that break if they want to have it.

Definitely.

Definitely. They do a lot.

That's alright, I'll work that out.