00:00You guys have given these people a sense of safety and home.
00:07You've done Australia proud and we're really proud of you. We want you to know that.
00:13Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm honoured to be here today. 26 years ago in East Timor, in Dili,
00:20an amazing event occurred with John Farm headlining for a group of Australian artists
00:26who've made that journey to entertain the troops, thousands of them.
00:30There were mostly Australians there in Dili, but there were also the troops of other nations,
00:3621 other nations, and heaps and heaps of kids and adults from the East Timorese population.
00:42All there for a tour of duty concert, headlined by none other than John Farm.
00:48It was an amazing moment. John Farm, who had answered the nation's call on numerous occasions
00:54before that, for situations after the droughts, bushfires, floods. If you asked John Farnham
01:03to come and help, he did. And when this was meted to him by some entrepreneurs who said,
01:09let's go and entertain the troops, it was the first thing for us to put it up in the soccer
01:14stadium in East Timor. There would have been 5,000 people just in the mosh pit, if I could call
01:20it that,
01:21and up there on the stage, all these magnificent artists. And I have to tell you this, in amongst
01:26those thousands of people crowding in, watching the cream of Australia's artistic talent up there
01:32to entertain the troops, there were all these young East Timorese kids, too short to see what's
01:41happening on the stage, amongst all the arms and legs of all these grown-up soldiers. And what the
01:46troops did was pick the kids up and pop them on their shoulders. I can remember vividly sitting
01:53up the back with some of the trumps, and I could see on the big screen, these soldiers standing there
01:59while the likes of Kylie Van Hogan and others were entertaining. And when fun comes on, he starts to
02:06sing, he had them in the palm of his hand. And I can remember vividly watching when he was doing
02:12that
02:13wonderful song he would sing, often, when you walk through a storm hold your head up high, and these
02:19soldiers had the children under their shoulders. And some corporal had a head on into like a boarding
02:24house for him. He was really a grizzled as a soldier, and the tears were rolling down his cheeks, because
02:32this was Australia, led by fun, reaching out to all these soldiers. It was a bridge of love coming
02:39out of our nation. So, ladies and gentlemen, I was delighted to be asked to participate in letting
02:46you know about the upcoming event. I can say as a retired soldier, Chief of the Defence Force in my
02:54time,
02:55John Farmer, John Farmer, you are loved by everybody in the nation's uniform. You are loved. And I might
03:02say as a Governor General, this extends to the 27 million dollars. We think you're amazing. We can't wait
03:07till the tribute that is planned, uh, is on foot, and I'm delighted to be part of it today. We
03:14love you, John Farmer.
03:15We love you, John Farmer.
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