PM Transcripts

TEL 13: 20 No. 009026. Rug. 92
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP,
LAUNCH OF P40 KIITYIIAWK PUBLIC DISPLAY, AUSTRALIAN WAR
MEMORIAL,, CANBERRA, 26 AUGUST 1992
UNVEILING CEREMONY
E& OE PROOF COPY
Thank you Dame Beryl.
Well there are lots of symbols of any battle and there are many symbols of the battle for
Australia at Miluc Bay. But the Kittyhawk is a famous symbol and it's a great tribute to
the Memorial that you've been able to procure and secure this Kittyhawk and restore it,
one that's had its own associations with the battle and which will pay tributc to those who
flew Kittyhawks, and to the machine itself and its role in the Milne Bay campaign.
In the Battle for Milne Bay we really celebrate and remember the most highly successful
land battle in the battle for Australia. Because no doubt we have remembered, as we have
now, for most of this century those who served and the battles in the First World War. But
Austrabia was not threatened in the First World War, only in the Second World War, and
in the battle for Australia, a battle for the liberty of the people of this country, those who
served in Milne Bay should be appropriately remembered.
And the Memorial in bringing back, in recreating parts of the Pacific campaign in the
gallery behind us, and now with the Kittyhawk, serves the memory of those who fought
for Australia in the Second World War well, and balances up the presentation of the
Memorial and the remembrance of the First World War with the Second World War.
So it's a great pleasure for me to be here with those who actually flew this plane, and an
even greater pleasure to be asked to launch the exhibition, the exhibit of this famous
Kittyhawk. Thank you. P. .02/ 04