What Was It All For?
My father returned from the war with ten quid in his pocket. He’d been flying Spitfires and Hurricanes over Europe and later in Burma. He was invalided out, worn out by what he’d seen and done.
Mr. Reading, My Reading Teacher
October 5 is set aside as World Teachers’ Day, a time to honour educators around the globe. A Daily Dad reader remembers one teacher who made a difference in his life.
Waiting at the Gate
Anzac Day -- what do I think about that? Well, firstly I’m grateful, grateful to soldiers who laid down their lives for me so that today I live in peace because of their selflessness, their courage, their daring. So I am grateful, and I spend the weekend carrying thoughts of those men in my heart. I wonder how many were fathers; I wonder how many families had to survive without a ...
Bring Back the Men
Today is Anzac Day, 25th April. The most holy day in the Australian calendar. It is a day when we remember the men who gave their lives for us all, that we might walk in freedom. Dawn Remembrance Services are held across the nation. This phrase from the Bible is repeated ten thousand times, if not more, in these dawn gatherings: “Greater love has no man than this that he lay ...
When Hope is Gone
When all hope is lost and you are at the end of your rope, whom do you call? Until recently, you could call Eric Trezise (1930-2021), friend of the friendless and hope for the hopeless. Sadly, Eric passed from this life to the next recently, at 91 years of age. I first met Eric Trezise at the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Forum in Parliament House, Canberra in 2005. Tony Miller, founder of Dads ...
Celebrating Australia Day and Honouring Our Indigenous Brothers Who Fought for Australia
We as fathers need to pass on our love for Australia to our children. If we do not, who will? I am not talking about some sort of jingoistic conceit for our country, but a clear and deep love of our nation despite our nation’s many weaknesses. Yes, and we need to pass on to our children a deep love and respect for our Indigenous people too! I believe we have ...
Invitation to Courageous Action
At Gallipoli on the morning of 9th August 1915, with a small party of soldiers, Aussie Dad and soldier Alfred Shout charged down trenches strongly occupied by the enemy and personally threw four bombs among them, killing eight and routing the remainder. In the afternoon of the same day, from the position gained in the morning, he captured a further length of trench under similar conditions and continued personally to bomb ...
Our Anzac Fathers
Some are speculating that this year’s 98th celebration of ANZAC Day could be one of the biggest ever. The curious thing is that more and more young people are getting up very early in the morning to take part in the traditional ANZAC dawn service. This year tens of thousands will make the pilgrimage to Turkey to commemorate the heroic landing of our troops at ANZAC Cove. One could argue that ...
