By Carolyn Webb
It was a veterans’ march of a distinctly different hue than usual.
Colourful clothes replaced khaki uniforms, a New Orleans-style marching band played jazz and the weather gods put on a corker of a day.
Day to connect: Ex-soldier Eamon Hale with (left to right) Shira Levine from Hoodoo Mayhem Brass Band, Hale’s wife, Celia, and children George and Elizabeth.Credit: Penny Stephens
The emphasis was on community as military veterans and their families took part in the inaugural Festival of Veterans Arts Family Colour Parade on Sunday.
Joggers on the Tan track in South Yarra smiled as the contingent did a lap of the Royal Botanic Gardens, led by the Hoodoo Mayhem Brass Band, in the name of veterans’ wellbeing.
Eamon Hale took part with wife Celia, and children Elizabeth, 3, and George, 10 months, and dog Daisy.
Hale, now a police officer, served in the Royal Australian Armoured Corps in Iraq in 2010 and in Afghanistan in 2014-15 and 2020.
New friends: Australian Army veterans Dominik Kul and Eamon Hale with Kul’s daughter Olivia and Hale’s daughter Elizabeth, both aged three.Credit: Penny Stephens
He said that during his nine-month stint in Baghdad, insurgents made daily rocket and bomb attacks. One rocket landed 75 metres from his quarters.
In Kabul in 2014, he witnessed the bloody aftermath of a rogue Afghan soldier shooting dead US Major General Harold Greene and wounding 14 other people.
Hale says some traumatised ex-soldiers have disconnected socially and taken their own lives.
He says keeping in touch with people with similar experiences to one’s own is important for mental health: “It literally saves lives.”
Trooper Eamon Hale on duty in an armoured Land Cruiser in Iraq in 2010.Credit: Australian Department of Defence
Hale likes the idea of the colour parade. He says it’s different from Anzac Day, which, while important, is more formal.
Organisers hope the colour parade, its name derived from the term for a military pageant, will become an annual event.
The parade is part of the 10-day Festival of Veterans Arts, or FOVA, which continues until March 30.
The festival features workshops for veterans on topics such as storytelling, painting and ceramics, and events open to the public such as exhibitions and a concert.
Murray Pearson, of Geelong, who served in East Timor, with his dog, Sayba.Credit: Penny Stephens
Mark Johnston, director of the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum, which runs the festival, described the colour parade, and the festival, as “our attempt to celebrate the veteran community”, particularly in the wake of the recent Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
“We typically come together for commemoration rather than celebration,” he said.
“The veteran community has contributed so much to Australia beyond its service in uniform. They’ve done a hell of a lot in uniform, like with the bushfires recently and during COVID.
“We want the festival to be a creative life force, to reinvigorate, or invigorate, the veteran community to stand tall and stand proud in recognition of what we, collectively, have achieved.”
Murray Pearson, who served with the Australian Army in East Timor in 2007, came from Geelong to walk in the colour parade, with wife Rita and his dog, Sayba.
Pearson marches on Anzac Day in Geelong, but says “this is more of a social get-together, which is very important. We can all get something from being amongst each other, with a shared experience of some kind.”
If you are a current or former ADF member, or a relative, and need counselling or support, you can contact the Defence All-Hours Support Line on 1800 628 036 or Open Arms on 1800 011 046.
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