M PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING, MP
KANCIIANAUUR! WAR CEMETERY, THAILAND, 9 APRIL 1994
Tis place honours those who died on the Burma-Thailand Railway. It reminds us of
the worst of which humanity is capable, and the best.
Almost one in five of the thirteen thousand Australians who worked on the Railway
died. With them also died thousands of men from Great Britain, Burma, New Zealand,
Malaya, Java, India, The Netherlands and Thailand.
Although they wcrc criminally mistreated and denied their rights under international
convention, those from the allied nations died as prisoners of war. The vast majority
of those from Asia upwards of throc hundred thousand of them died as slaves.
To visit lilifire Pass and see the scale of the work men were driven to do is to be
reminded that the task itself was inhuman.
When we are told of the speed with which it was done, the hours the men worked, the
disease they suffered and the brutality and sadism that they endured, we begin to
understand why the Burma-Thailand railway ranks among the most evil acts of World
Wa' II.
The images of our countrymen returning from those camps gaunt and debilitated
remain in the minds of every Australian who ever saw them. The knowledge of what
was done to them remains as shocking now as it was when it was first revealed almost
fifty years ago.
It is not because those inhuman acts can in any way be excused or forgotten that we
have come now to think less about the cruelty and more about the means men found to
endurc it and to help thcir comrades endure it.
The Burma-Thailand Railway has become one of those episodcs in our history from
which we havc chosen to draw inspiration. It has become a legend of courage,
comradeship, sacrifice and resourcefulness. iFi i~ 0t~ 0 SOooOoooooo, .1BJ
And we have come to recognise tliat these qualitics were embodied in one man, Sir
Edward Ernest " Weary" Dunlop. the soldier and doctor whose remarkable bravcr'and
skill saved so many lives, eased so much suffering and, when it was so desperately
needed, inspired so much faith,
No Australian of his generation is more universally admired than Weary Dunlop, and it
is our duty to make sure that Australians of fuature generations know what he did and
understand the greatnec-s of it.
When we teach his story there is one great theme we should not neglect his great
respect and affection for the Thai people.
We should remember, as he always did, that were it not for their assistance
exemplified in the deeds of his great friend, Boon Pong the lives of countless more
Australian and Allied prisoners of war would have been lost.
From the war's end until his death last year, " Weary" Dunlop returned the friendship by
working to improve thc standard of medicine in Thailand and to deepen understanding
between our two countries.
It is worth remembering that Australia's first major engagement with Asia was in war.
In Korea and Malaya aind Vietnam it was again war.
Today it is a partnership with Thailand and other countrics of the region. A
partnership which will extend the domnain of our common interest and reduce the
ground for conflict.
It seems to me that there could be no better way to honour those Australians who
suffered and died here than to succeed in this enterprise. No better way to see that
what they endured, and what their allies and hundreds of thousands from the countries
of Asia endured, will not happen again.
Tomorrow I go to Victnam. The Australians who fought and died there have been
justly honoured in Australia as those who were here have been honoured, and for thle
same reasons for the sacrifice they made, the faith they showed.
In Vietnam the lesson is the same. The wounds have to be healed. The terrible legacy
of the past must not cripple future generations.
We must never forgct, but for the sake of future generations and in the name of those
who died, the memory should not hold us back) but inspire us to find the way to peace
and friendship, justice and prosperity.
The best lesson we can draw from this place is that here we saw the best in ourselves.