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Second World War Service

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  The Second World War Service of John Francis Cleary NX21853 Frank Cleary turned up at Paddington on 25 May 1940 to enlist in the newly re-created Australian Infantry Force (the 2 nd AIF), the volunteer army which would fight in the Second World War. This would probably have been the Victoria Barracks, bounded by Oxford Street and Moore Park Road, and to this day still a functioning Army base in Sydney. War in Europe had been declared on September 3 1939, finally triggered by the German invasion of Poland, the step too far after a series of expansionist moves in various European countries. In a memorable radio address, a sombre Prime Minister Robert Menzies, accepting that Britain’s declaration meant that Australia was therefore itself automatically at war, informed the nation of this event, on the evening of Fathers’ Day 1939, 3 September.   Although memories of World War 1 (1914 – 1918) – “the great war”, “the war to end all wars” – were still fresh, there seems to have ...
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Clearys Ireland to Australia

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  “OUR CLEARY CLAN IN AUSTRALIA : the first and second generations” The following document contains extracts from research substantially compiled by Paul Box, and with some additions by Ross Cleary.  Paul and Ross are 3rd cousins, being great-great grandsons of Thomas Cleary.       Our Cleary heritage can be traced back to Ireland to Thomas Cleary and his wife Bridget Heffernan.  …  Thomas Cleary was born in County Clare, Ireland around 1816-1818.  He was from good Catholic farming stock.  The marriage of Thomas and Bridget took place on 16 September 1847 at Doora in the Diocese of Killaloe, County Clare in Ireland. Doora is just east of Ennis, the principal town of County Clare.   Bound for Australia .     A little over 12 months after they were married they were to say their farewells to the country of their birth and begin a new life in a new but distant cou...
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 3 poems, early 2000's Farmyard Peacock   Brilliant bird strutting grandly incongruously in dry brown grass of farmyard. Surely more at home in blinding blues and greens of far north lands.   Captive bird, pet-dulled instincts, red dust dulls flouted beauty an actor parading now in heavy make-up, vulnerable to pity of past admirers.                                      Bangarra Dreamings :  A Dance for Reconciliation   Imagine a dancer           rhythymic, sinuous           inheritor of earth-age memories           mesmerizing           perfectly satisfying.   Imagine my dance           compl...
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Villers Bretonneux

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 Villers Bretonneux. The final destination on our battlefields tour, and a town that lives large in the mutual affections between its French inhabitants and we in Australia. We will see that first-hand when we visit the town, but we're beginning at the Australian Memorial a few kilometres out of town. This is the centrepiece of Australian Commemoration on the Western Front, and it's where Anzac Day is commemorated each year. The central tower is a beacon on the landscape, for kilometres around. The Sir John Monash Centre has been added to this Memorial site, and was opened in time for Anzac day 1918, the final year for commemorations of the centenary years of the First World War. It is built unobtrusively behind the Memorial, and lower in the ground.  Inside, it is a high-tech interactive museum, giving visitors an immersive experience in those war years. The past comes alive as we live with the men and women who served, and those who stayed at home, and understand just what i...
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Le Hamel

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 The final day of our tour. Another early 8am start, and the weather is looking decidedly unpromising today. There's time for a quick walk from our hotel to the imposing Amiens Cathedral, 100m away. A front door is open, welcoming pilgrims, penitents and tourists alike. I'm not sure what group best describes me. Apparently Amiens Cathedral is bigger than Notre Dame, in Paris. I'm not sure what dimensions that refers to. Inside, it is a massive space. The ceiling soars high above. The nave - the body of the church - is a mixture of pews and open space, and individual altars are scattered around the internal perimeter of the building. It is 'standard cathedral', and it is big!! And it is fortunate that the German advance on Amiens in 1918 was halted, at a place I will be visiting today, Villers Bretonneux. There is a grandeur to this building that inspires, but is it a prayerful place? I'm not sure. But I'm certainly pleased to have had the opportunity to visi...
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