Australia is to fall silent and still at 11am on November 11th this year, the 75th anniversary of the Armistice at the end of World War I, under a proposal put by the Prime Minister to the states.
The silence would coincide with the entombing of an unknown soldier at the Australian War Memorial.
The director of the Memorial, Brendon Kelson, said yesterday (friday) that the Prime Minister, Paul Keating, had written to the State Premiers calling for a two-minute silence at 11am. He called for their views on whether the silence should be at Eastern Summer time so the whole nation stopped at once coinciding with the entombment, or whether it should be at 11am local time in each state.
Observation of the two-minute silence at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11 month has fallen away. Its origins go back to an idea by an Australian journalist, Edward George Honey, according to Lest We Forget, a history of the Returned Services League, by Jacqueline Rees.
Ms Rees said yesterday Honey should be given greater recognition. After his death in 1922 his wife lived in penury only helped by the RSL. She did not get a pension because Honey had enlisted in England.
Her book says Honey’s idea for a five-minute silence was published in a letter to the London Evening News appeared on May 8, 1919. It then filtered to the King George who organised a rehearsal with the Grenadier Guards, many of whom fainted before the time was up, so it was cut to two minutes.
Mr Kelson said Anzac Day was now the primary observance, so this year’s silence would be a once-only event.
Ms Rees said the entombment would bring a focus of the nation on Canberra. It would be an event of great national significance. Until now, the tomb of the unknown solider at Westminster Abbey in London has represented all British Empire and Commonwealth soldiers.