Autumn is my chosen season and although it is dry, it is difficult not to enjoy these incredibly beautiful sunny days.
We experienced our first frost this week which is always a reminder that ANZAC Day is just around the corner.
I can hear the sound of the Tenor drum floating across the paddocks as they practice, and I am looking forward to representing Hilltops Council at the Boorowa
services.
Most of us have some connection to ANZAC Day, which as a National Day of Remembrance commemorates all Australian and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
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I grew up listening to the story of my mother's cousin, Flight Sergeant Edward John Leake, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, who sadly, and like many local men, did not survive WWII.
Ted was born in Boorowa in 1922, one of only two children and the only son of Edward and Hannorah (nee Flannery) Leake, and attended the Convent School in Boorowa and later St Patrick's College, Goulburn before heading to Sydney to work for the Sydney City Council.
I am sure he was no different to many of his peers who sort a future in the city.
After enlisting in October 1942, he began training as a navigator and then an air bomber before embarking from Sydney in September of 1943 for overseas service as part of the Empire Air training scheme, one of almost 27,000 RAAF pilots navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who joined squadrons in Britain throughout the course of the war.
As part of bomber command his squadron 476 flew the four engine Avro Lancaster.
Sadly, on 11 November 1944, one year before the end of the war, the Lancaster in which Ted was a crew member was shot down over Hamburg, Germany and he was killed. Out of the seven crew, six were killed, the lone survivor becoming a POW and ultimately survived the war.
Ted Leake was only 22 years old and as his Squadron Commander in writing to his family would state, " His courage and devotion to duty inspired the other members of the squadron".
He is only one of many local stories of service and sacrifice and his name appears on the Boorowa War Memorial.
So, on ANZAC day along with many of you I will pay tribute and remember not only Ted but all those Australians as well as Allies who gave their lives for their nation.
We can reflect on what it means to be Australian as good global citizens, and I would encourage everyone to don a sprig of rosemary and attend a dawn service or local march.
LEST WE FORGET
Councillor Joanne Mackay
