Josephites urging Perth parishioners to honour East Timorese killed defending Australia.
By Glynnis Grainger
THE Catholic Women’s League is circulating a petition throughout West Australian parishes to honour the East Timorese who defended Australia.
The petition originates from the Mary MacKillop East Timor Mission in St Marys, NSW, a branch of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
In the petition, the Mission is nominating the nation of Timor-Leste for the award of (Honorary) Companion of the Order of Australia, in recognition of the unique contribition of the Timorese people in helping Australian soldiers in their country during World War II.
CWL State vice-president Margaret Kerr encourages members and friends to sign the petition. CWL WA sent sewing machines to Timor years ago through the 2/2nd Commandos Association, so have already been supportive of the Timorese.
Josephite Sister Susan Connelly from the Mission said that the Australian veterans who fought on Timor in WWII remember the Timorese people with deep gratitude and that for the last 70 years have told the retold stories of the courage and compassion of the Timorese.
The Australian veterans have said: “We owe our lives to them.”
The Mission regrets that there has been no adequate recognition of the role of the Timorese in assisting Australia in the 1940s.
Retired Labor politician and humanitarian, Tom Uren, of Sydney, said, “No Australian soldier was taken prisoner in East Timor, unlike those of us in West Timor.
“The loyalty and care given to Australians by the Timorese is unique in the annals of war. The nation of Timor-Leste certainly deserves our tribute.”
Sr Susan said, “This omission must be amended because, at the very least, 40,000 Timorese civilians were killed as a result of their assistance to Australia.”
The petition is timely also because 8 August marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Blessed Mary MacKillop, the founder of the Australian Order of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
It is hoped the petition, which closes on August 30, will be presented to the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament towards the end of the year.
One of the last surviving veterans from the Timor encounters Paddy Kenneally, who died on March 1 aged 93, was
“a wonderful friend to Timor and an unswerving expression of the Australian conscience,” according to a Mission newsletter.
He was a Private in the 2/2nd Independent Company, which invaded Timor in 1941 and was subsequently stranded there for over a year.
For the remaining 70 years of his life, Paddy said this: “We went to Timor and brought nothing but misery on those poor people.
“That is all they ever got out of helping us – misery.”
During WWII, Timor-Leste was a colony of neutral Portugal.
Despite this, about 700 Australian 2/2nd and 2/4th Commandos were sent to Timor late in 1941 and conducted guerilla warfare against 8000 Japanese, who landed on 19 February, 1942.
The Japanese force was later increased to 20,000 and the Commandos were not supplied with any rations from Australia, but lived off the land.
The Timorese helped them to such an extent that they were able to frustrate the overwhelming number of Japanese, who would otherwise have been deployed with devastating effect against Australian forces in Papua-New Guinea.
Their Timorese friends provided the Australians with shelter, shared their meagre food, provided information of Japanese troop movements, acted as guides, and pointed out the best observation points and ambush positions.
They performed innumerable acts of bravery and their devotion and loyalty continued to the end of the campaign, when the Australians were withdrawn at the end of 1942.
In relative terms, Timorese losses after the withdrawal – 11.4 per cent of the population of 527,000 – were 20 times greater than those suffered by Australia, and almost equal to the number of British civilians killed in Britain during the war.
After the evacuation of our troops, the RAAF dropped leaflets, which read, “Your friends do not forget you,” over East Timor, to the “criados”, those loyal Timorese who helped our Australian soldiers.
It was a promise that Paddy Kenneally kept all his life.
Paddy was in the middle of a serious engagement with Japanese forces at Darlau during his time as a Commando in the 2/2nd Independent Company in 1942, and in his many trips to Timor after the war, he often spoke of Darlau and its people.
Darlau is in the parish of Becora in Dili, where the Mary MacKillop East Timor Mission is situated.
NSW Mission Sister Josephine Mitchell told The Record that the idea for the petition came from Paddy Kenneally’s funeral on March 6 at Bass Hill, NSW, and Dili, East Timor. She said that there were a lot of 2/2nd Independent Company (veterans) in WA, now known as the Special Air Service (SAS).
Sr Josephine said: “Paddy used to say, ‘I am alive because of them (the Timorese).’”
“In no other country of the world (Timor) has any country done more for (Australian) troops.”