Members of Council

The Council is responsible for the conduct and control of the affairs of the Memorial and the policy of the Memorial with respect to any matters determined by the Council.

Chairman of Council

General Peter Cosgrove AC MC (Ret'd) was an ex officio Council member in 2000-2002.  He was appointed to Council in June 2006 for three years, and in June 2009 for a further three year term, having been appointed as Chairman on 13 November 2007.  Following his graduation from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1968, he served in Malaysia as a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, RAR, before joining the Australian reinforcement unit in South Vietnam.  There he commanded an infantry platoon and was awarded the Military Cross for his work during an assault on enemy positions.  In 1999, as Commander of the Deployable Joint Force Headquarters, he assumed command of the International Forces in East Timor, overseeing East Timor’s transition to independence.  On returning to Australia, General Cosgrove was appointed as Chief of Army, and then Chief of the Defence Force.  He retired from this position in 2005.  General Cosgrove was Australian of the Year in 2001.  He is a non-executive Director of Qantas, a consultant to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and Chairman of the South Australian Defence Industry Development Board.  In addition, he is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and of the board of Cardno, an engineering consultancy company, and Chairman of the Sir John Monash foundation and the Australian Rugby Union Board.


Council Members

Air Marshal Mark Binskin AM was appointed to Council in July 2008.  Air Marshal Binskin has served in various joint and single service staff positions including Headquarters Australian Defence Force as Deputy Director Airspace Control and as Staff Officer to the Chief of Defence Force; in the Defence Materiel Organisation as Officer Commanding the Airborne Early Warning and Control System Program Office; and in Air Force Headquarters as Director General Performance Management Audit and Director General Capability Planning.  During Australia’s 2003 contribution to the war in Iraq, Air Marshal Binskin served as Chief of Staff at Headquarters Australian Theatre.  Following this, he served as the first dedicated non-USAF Director of the US Central Air Force Combined Air and Space Operations Centre where he was responsible for the conduct of all Coalition air operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (ADF Operations Catalyst and Slipper). For this service he was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service.  Air Marshal Binskin is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, Australian Institute of Company Directors and RAAF Command and Staff Course where he was awarded the Chief of Staff’s Prize for Professional Excellence.

Mr Les Carlyon was appointed to Council in May 2006 for a three year term, and in April 2009 for a further three year term.  He has had a distinguished career in journalism having been editor of The Age, editor-in-chief of the Herald and Weekly Times group and a visiting lecturer in journalism at RMIT.  As one of Australia’s most respected journalists he has received both the Walkley Award (1971 and 2004) and the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award (1993).  He is the author of Gallipoli, a best-seller in both Australia and Britain, and has authored several other books on sport and Australian history.  His most recent book The Great War was published in 2006 and was the joint winner of the Prime Minister’s award for Australian history.

Vice Admiral Russ Crane AM CSM RAN was appointed to Council in July 2008.  Vice Admiral Crane was the Commanding Officer HMAS DERWENT from 1993, and on completion, was posted as the Director of the Maritime Intelligence Centre in Sydney.  He was then appointed as the Chief Staff Officer Command and Control, Communications and Intelligence in Maritime Headquarters.  Vice Admiral Crane assumed command of HMAS SUCCESS on 24 November 1998 and was awarded the Conspicuous Service Medal in early 2000.  He was promoted to Commodore in March 2000 and posted to Australian Defence Headquarters in Canberra as the Director General Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare.  He was the Commander Australian Naval Systems Command from October 2001 before being promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 May 2004 and assuming duties as Director General Coastwatch.  He was appointed as Deputy Chief of Navy in June 2006 and was awarded a Member in the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Awards list in 2007.

Major General Bill Crews AO (Ret'd) was appointed to Council in May 2006 for a three year term, and in April 2009 for a further two year term.  He has had a distinguished military career.  In 1962 he joined the Army and initially trained as a civil engineer.  He served in construction units, including in Vietnam from 1968-1969.  His final appointment in the Royal Australian Engineering Corps was as Commanding Officer, the School of Military Engineering in 1983.  He then held a number of senior appointments, including Head of the Defence Centre, Brisbane, Assistant Chief of General Staff (Materiel), and Assistant Chief Defence Force, Logistics.  He was the Director of the Defence Intelligence Organisation when he retired in 1999 after thirty-seven years service in the Defence Force.  General Crews was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Institution of Engineers Australia from 2000-2003, and has been the National President of the Returned & Services League of Australia, since 2003.

Lt General Ken Gillespie AO DSC CSM was appointed to Council in July 2008.  He graduated from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea in 1972 and was commissioned into the corps of the Royal Australian Engineers.  His senior appointments have included: the inaugural commanding officer of the 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment, Staff Officer Operations to the Chief of the Defence Force, inaugural commander of the Australian Theatre Joint Intelligence Centre (ASTJIC), and the inaugural Principal Staff Officer - Intelligence, Headquarters Australian Theatre. Lieutenant General Gillespie was promoted to Brigadier in January 1999.  In this rank he was the Chief of Staff Training Command - Army, he commanded the United Nations Sector West multinational brigade in East Timor, and he was the National Commander of Australia's contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom.  Lieutenant General Gillespie was appointed as Vice Chief of the Defence Force in July 2005.

RADM Simon Harrington AM RAN was appointed to Council on 14 November 2007.  He retired from the Navy in 2002 after nearly 40 years service during which time which he commanded the Guided Missile Frigates Canberra in 1987/88 and Adelaidein 1992/93 and the Naval College at Jervis Bay in 1991/92.  Promoted to Rear Admiral in 1997 he became the first Support Commander (Navy) in the newly formed joint organization, Support Command Australia.  In 1999 he assumed duties as Head of the Australian Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in Washington.  In 2003 he was appointed to the Repatriation Commission as the Services Member and in 2004 was appointed one of the inaugural members of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission.  He retired from those commissions in February 2007.

The Honourable Mrs Jocelyn Newman AO was appointed to Council for a three-year term in August 2002, reappointed for a further two years in 2005, and again for another two years in 2007.  She graduated in law from the University of Melbourne and practiced in the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania.  After her marriage to Duntroon graduate Kevin Newman, she “followed the flag” wherever his career took him around Australia and the United Kingdom.  Like many army wives, she endured the worry and loneliness of raising children while her husband served with 2RAR in Vietnam in 1967-68.  In 1986, she became a Senator for Tasmania and, among other appointments, served as Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Shadow Minister for Defence.  As Minister for Social Security and Minister for Family and Community Service from 1996 until 2001, she also represented the Defence and Veterans’ Affairs portfolios in the Senate.  From 2001 to 2007 she served on the Board of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, retiring from the Senate in February 2002.  Currently, she serves on the board of the Breast Cancer Network of Australia and Cancer Australia, and in June 2007 she was appointed Patron of Defence Families Australia.

Mr Ken Peacock AM was appointed to Council in August 2002 for a three-year term, reappointed for a further two years in 2005, and again for two years in 2007.  He was previously Executive Chairman, Boeing Australia Limited and AeroSpace Technologies of Australia Limited from 1995-2002 and Chairman, Hawker de Havilland Limited from 2000-2002.  He was Executive Chairman, Rockwell International and Rockwell Australia Limited from 1991-1996.  Prior to joining Rockwell, he held senior line management and company director positions with Alcoa of Australia Limited and Wormald International Limited.  He is currently Chairman, Joint Strike Fighter Industry Advisory Council.

Air Marshal Doug Riding AO DFC (Ret’d) was appointed to Council in August 2004.  He served a three year term and was reappointed in 2007 for a further two years.  He joined the RAAF in 1962 and served as a fighter pilot and qualified flying instructor, including a tour in the Vietnam War as a forward air controller where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.  From 1979 he held a wide range of command and staff appointments in the Air Force, culminating in his appointment in 1996 as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Materiel).  On promotion to Air Marshal in June 1998, he was appointed Vice Chief of the Defence Force, transferring to the RAAF Reserve in June 2000.  In August 2000 he was appointed as the Senior Defence Adviser to BAE Systems Australia. He is a member of the Returned and Services League National Defence Committee, and is a director on the Board of St Andrew’s Retirement Village in Canberra.

Ms Wendy Sharpe was appointed to Council in June 2005 for a three-year term, and again in 2008, for another three years.   She is a major Australian artist who in 1999 was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial as an official war artist to East Timor.  She was the first woman to have such a commission since the Second World War.  She has won many awards including the Sulman Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award (twice) and the Archibald Prize.  She was commissioned by the city of Sydney to paint an Olympic Pool size mural for the Cook and Philip Park Aquatic Centre and has been awarded two important traveling scholarships.  She exhibits regularly in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and is a visiting lecturer in painting at the National Art School, Sydney.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts), a Graduate Diploma (Art), a Graduate Diploma of Education (Art), and a Master of Fine Arts.

Mr Kerry Stokes AC was appointed to Council in August 2007.  His leadership of Seven Network Limited caps four decades of his active involvement in the ownership and management of media companies in Australia.  Today, Seven is a multi-faceted media company, bringing together a market-leading presence in broadcast television, magazines publishing and online and expanding new communications platforms.  Through his private holdings, Australian Capital Equity, Mr Stokes has broad business interests and investments in a range of major business sectors in Australia and overseas, including China.  Mr. Stokes is the recipient of the Order of Australia and a Centenary Medal for Corporate Governance, and presented the Boyer Lectures in 1994 and the Andrew Olle Lecture in 2001.  Mr Stokes holds a Life Membership of the Returned Services League of Australia and is a recipient of the Rotary Paul Harris Fellow Award.  He is also a former Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia.