The PR Blog

More than a hundred years ago, in the fields of the Somme, a whole generation of young men who came from the other side of the world fought and fell   

Among them, out of a population of five million souls, 416,000 young Australians answered the call of duty under the banner of the Commonwealth and 295,000 served bravely on the Western Front in the mud and poppies of northern France where they paid a heavy price.   

What has happened to the  relationship between some Women , fortunately, a minority,  who seem to have  a very bad feeling about all men.   They feel they can say anything from calling all men rapists  and then wonder why a rather pointed comment comes back in reply. 

Or Racists and bigots. Or any other name that flies off their tongues with such hatred. 

The clandestine activities of our two most famous but unsung units of the Pacific war were the M & Z Units of the Australian Army commonly referred to as Commandos. The lack of knowledge about these units was due to the fact that they were clouded in secrecy by the sheer nature of their existence and The Official Secrets Act (OSA). Their most well-known exploits were the two raids made on shipping in Singapore Harbour. (See also my article named Heroes and Headhunters)

One was an outstanding success. The other was a tragic stuff up.

It is with horror I  read  articles about what is going on in the world right now.

As a 90 year old woman, I find it unbelievable that we have sunk so low and so fast.  

What is the world coming to. We need to talk about what is happening to our young women and young men.   Girls are surgically destroying their bodies to become men? And boys are shopping for bras? 

The Scrap Iron Flotilla was an Australian destroyer group that operated in the Mediterranean during WW2.

Its story is synonymous with the Rats of Tobruk. It was the means of supply to the beleaguered town under siege between 10^th April, 1941 and 7^th December, 1941.

Its name was conferred on it by Dr.Goebbels, the German propaganda minister intending to demean and undermine morale of the five Australian ships that made up the flotilla. As happened with the conferring of the name “Rats of Tobruk” on the garrison troops by Lord Haw Haw, instead of depressing morale it spurred them to greater acts of defiance. Neither understood the make-up of the Australian character.

I belong to the group known as Baby Boomers – the ones that were born in the post war years and lived through the “ burn the bra “ and early feminist days of the pill, the equality of the sexes and the general liberation of women from the kitchen.  At the time, I did not realise that my life had gone from one of comfortable domesticity to one of 5 am starts, 10 pm finishes and a pay cheque that largely went to childcare providers.

As a woman, I was proud of what we achieved then. But now, I am not so sure we did anything other than bite ourselves on the bum. And in turn our menfolk into pawns, pansies and poofters.