Adelaide river war cemetery.

War Song - War Cemetery.

The war heroes song was created from Peter's experience in visiting the Adelaide River War Cemetery (114 kms south of Darwin) in the Northern Territory and seeing the graves of Australians who gave their lives in the service and defence of their country. Peter felt he should do something within his capabilities to honour the memory of such incredible sacrifice.

A total of 434 war graves marked by bronze plaques are contained in the Adelaide River War Cemetery. The burials are made up of 14 airmen of the RAF, 12 unidentified men of the British Merchant Navy; one soldier of the Canadian Army; 18 sailors, 181 soldiers and 201 airmen of the Australian Forces and seven men of the Australian Merchant Navy. The Northern Territory Memorial to the Missing honours a further 292 servicemen and women lost to the north of Australia. The adjacent civil section contains the graves of the nine Post Office staff killed on 19 February 1942 during the bombing of Darwin, one of 63 separate occasions from that date. The 63 civilian casualties buried in the cemetery include those of 31 Indigenous Australians.

The youngest buried in the cemetery was Robert H. Stobo, Deck Cadet, M.V. 'Neptuna', killed 19/2/1942. He was with the Merchant Navy and was killed in Darwin Harbour during a Japanese air raid. He was only 16 years old. Wing Commander A.R Tindal is also buried in the cemetery. He was killed in action during a Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19/2/1942. The RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory is named after him. During WW2, there were up to 30,000 Australian Army and United States soldiers based near the town. The 107th Australian General Hospital and 119th Australian General Hospital were set up around Adelaide River.

The last person to be buried in the cemetery was Eileen Hughes in 1947. She came to the Northern Territory to visit her son's grave who was killed in the war. She died in a motor vehicle accident and was buried in the civil section of the cemetery.

During the Second World War, the Northern Territory contained the largest operational base in the South West Pacific.

"To stand on my homeland, surrounded by our war dead, who fought heroically to defend Australia and their loved ones down the track, was a profound experience and initiated the creation of the song." - Peter Barnes

The words you see on the video are from some of the bronze plaques on graves at the cemetery. It was very late in the afternoon when Peter photographed some of the bronze plaques as the sun was going down. It was a very moving experience to be in the war cemetery as the sun was going down and no-one else was around at that time.

Words in the song like love and sacrifice come from the words on the graves. In the 4 minute length song there are additional words.

This song is very unique with the marching continuing right throughout the song.

If you would like to know more about the song go to http://www.australianwarheroes.com

You can email the author at peterbarnes@australianwarheroes.com

'Can you hear Australia's heroes marching?' © Peter Barnes 2001 - 2009. Copyright - All Rights Reserved.

Other songs initiated by the author at
http://www.australian-songs.befoundonline.com.au

ww2 cemetry. war music. (less info)