Apr 10, 2012
ANZAC Day
It is only two weeks away and I bought I would let residents know the details of forthcoming events to coincide with Anzac Day. We will be working with both the RSL Sub-Branches of Botany and Mascot for this year’s Anzac Day ceremonies.
The Mascot RSL Sub-Branch is organising a pre Anzac Day march along Botany Road and Botany RSL Sub-Branch will be organising an Anzac Day Dawn Service.
The Anzac march will begin at 2.00pm on April 22 at Baxter Road, Mascot and go down Botany Road to Mascot Memorial Park, where a remembrance ceremony will be held.
The Anzac Day Dawn Service will be held at 6.00am at the memorial in Booralee Park at the corner of Bay and Daniel streets.
Last year, due to a number of circumstances, the Dawn Service was not held and I immediately offered Council’s assistance in ensuring the service would be held in future years.The Dawn Service is one of the most moving ceremonies you can attend and it represents Australia and the debt this country owes those who served this nation in conflicts.
I found it immensely gratifying in the past to see increasing numbers of people attending the Dawn Service, especially young adults and children. The growing attendances added to the regret the Botany RSL Sub-Branch had in not having a service last year. This City will ensure that this area commemorates Anzac Day in the future as it has done in the past.
Without detracting from the solemness of Anzac Day, I must confess that I was concerned by a story last Monday of how bureaucrats in the Federal Government had spent money on focus groups to test the forthcoming Anzac Day centenary and multiculturalism. I must confess I do have problems about bureaucratic waste and madness but this one, as far as political correctness is concerned, goes a little too far.
“Commemorating our military history in a multicultural society is something of a two-edged sword,” the report of the research apparently says, add that such commemorations could be “divisive”.
At Gallipoli the Anzac Day commemorations are attended by many, many Turkish people and their government – whose ancestors Australians and New Zealanders troops engaged in battle. Do they worry about impacts on a multicultural society when they attend those commemorations? I think not.
Bureaucrats are often too political correct. We see it when they rail against celebrating Christmas or Easter. It might offend the adherents of Islam or the Jewish faith. Muslims and Jews in Australia aren’t offended – indeed we join in the celebrations.
I can think of many other, and more valuable, activities that the money allocated for the Anzac Day research could have been spent on. But putting political correctness aside, this City, which is multicultural, will commemorate Anzac Day.
Apr 5, 2012
The Honourable Lionel Bowen
Next Wednesday as just about every one of our residents knows, we will lay to rest one of the greatest sons of this part of Sydney – Lionel Bowen.
Lionel left school at 14, worked and educated himself, and imbued within himself, a life-long commitment and dedication to education. Indeed, although he rose to be Deputy Prime Minister of Australia he considered his finest hours were those spend in developing and implementing education policies.
As I said when asked to eulogise Lionel in our local newspaper, Lionel Bowen never forgot where he came from and was never out of step with the people he represented.
Lionel left school at 14, worked and educated himself, and imbued within himself, a life-long commitment and dedication to education. Indeed, although he rose to be Deputy Prime Minister of Australia he considered his finest hours were those spend in developing and implementing education policies.
Lionel Bowen’s commitment to education is recognised in this City through the Lionel Bowen Scholarship, which assist local tertiary students in their first years of higher education. The scholarship is funded by this Council and local business but it is a mark of the man that every year, when he came to our Council Meeting he always sought to make a personal contribution to the scholarship fund.
I well remember how he beamed when he made the presentation of the scholarship and added another name to the roll of Lionel Bowen Scholars from the City of Botany Bay. Lionel, with Claire nearby, was in his element, supporting and boosting the education of young people.
Another local tribute to Lionel is the Bowen Library in Randwick City, a city he served as a member of local government in his first foray into public service.
Lionel Bowen then entered State Parliament for the seat of Randwick from 1962 to 1969, when he moved to the House of Representatives as the Member for Kingsford Smith. He was a minister for the two towering ALP Prime Ministers – Whitlam and Hawke – becoming Deputy Prime Minister after the 1983 Federal Election.
Lionel Bowen retired from political life in 1990 but he never retired from public service. We saw him on many, many occasions and he never changed from the man who first entered public life all those decades ago.
What other politician or leader lived in the same house he had first entered as a boy on the day World War II broke out? Lionel and Claire raised their own family there and it was fitting that it was in that house that he drew his last breath – surrounded by the family he loved.
A lot will and has beens said about Lionel Bowen – and a lot has been written in the days up until today – and all of right. Lionel Bowen was a friend of this City – and he was our friend. He was always there for advice or counsel. He will be sadly missed by each and every one of us.
To Claire and their children, his grandchildren and one great-grand child we offer our deepest sympathies for their loss.
I well remember how he beamed when he made the presentation of the scholarship and added another name to the roll of Lionel Bowen Scholars from the City of Botany Bay. Lionel, with Claire nearby, was in his element, supporting and boosting the education of young people.
Another local tribute to Lionel is the Bowen Library in Randwick City, a city he served as a member of local government in his first foray into public service.
Lionel Bowen then entered State Parliament for the seat of Randwick from 1962 to 1969, when he moved to the House of Representatives as the Member for Kingsford Smith. He was a minister for the two towering ALP Prime Ministers – Whitlam and Hawke – becoming Deputy Prime Minister after the 1983 Federal Election.
Lionel Bowen retired from political life in 1990 but he never retired from public service. We saw him on many, many occasions and he never changed from the man who first entered public life all those decades ago.
What other politician or leader lived in the same house he had first entered as a boy on the day World War II broke out? Lionel and Claire raised their own family there and it was fitting that it was in that house that he drew his last breath – surrounded by the family he loved.
A lot will and has beens said about Lionel Bowen – and a lot has been written in the days up until today – and all of right. Lionel Bowen was a friend of this City – and he was our friend. He was always there for advice or counsel. He will be sadly missed by each and every one of us.
To Claire and their children, his grandchildren and one great-grand child we offer our deepest sympathies for their loss.
Pool open for School Holidays
The Botany Pool, including the Big Splash waterslides, will remain open for the school holidays. The water slides will operate from 11am to 3pm daily. The pool will be closed on Good Friday, April 6.
Glenn McEnallay
Wednesday this week I had the honour, on behalf of all our residents, to attend a very moving ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the murder of on-duty police officer, Senior Constable Glenn McEnallay.
Senior Constable McEnallay, who was based in our City, died needlessly at the all-too young age of 26. Council created the Glenn McEnallay Reserve in Sutherland Street, Mascot as a tribute to his memory. Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione joined officers from the local command in remembering Glenn, his service and his ultimate sacrifice.
A fine police officer, with his whole life ahead of him, died while serving our community and our State. That 10 years have passed have not dimmed the memory of Glenn McEnallay and the sympathies we feel for his family and his fellow members of the NSW Police Force.
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