Women march in Sydney

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 10

Women march in Sydney

NZPA-AAP Sydney Several hundred women dressed in black linked arms and stood at the steps of the war memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney, yesterday morning, singing softly in memory of women raped in war. While the members of the Women Against Rape collective sang, the sound of bagpipes could be heard in the distance, warming up for the traditional Anzac Day commemorative march through the streets of Sydney. When the collective tried to take part in the Anzac Day march last year they were prevented by the police, who arrested 160 women and charged them with causing serious alarm and affront.

The police last week successfully sought a Supreme Court order to stop the women’s participation.

While the women marched silently to the memorial, several war veterans voiced their opposition to the women’s cause.

One 73-year-old veteran who had served with the Royal Navy for five years said that the march was nonsense.

“Of course there’s rape in war — I’ve seen Norwegian soldiers raping 14-year-olds girls in spitzbergen. But the last war was years ago — what’s the point of them marching today?” Anzac Day marches in memory of the suffering of soldiers were “a different thing altogether,” he said. “What 1 want to know is who are they accusing or rape?” • In Canberra the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Bob Hawke, said that his Government would ask the Turkish Government to have part of the Gallipoli Peninsula renamed Anzac Cove.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Bill Hayden, would ask the Australian Embassy in Ankara to make the representations. Mr Hawke said that the Gallipoli Legion of Anzacs had written to him seeking Government support to have the part of the Gallipoli Peninsula where the Anzac landing took place 69 years ago formally renamed Anzac Cove.