Malcolm Kennedy

War has been the grand theme for so many human lives. It is, perhaps, one of the greatest ironies of human life that deprivation of one kind or another, like the loss of peace to war, is needed to give meaning, excitement and purpose to our lives. War has been such a catalyst in the lives of many Australians. It has been for so many the peak experience of a whole lifetime. War is so often dull, boring and monotonous but in an instant it becomes exciting, exhilarating and the very core of life. This terrible, wasteful and destructive human form of arbitration provides each individual with a unique set of experiences that can only be fully shared with ‘those who were there’.