Testimonials
Dr Ted Fleming
Online Gallery Volunteer
“It has been a great privilege to do voluntary work in the online gallery at the AWM for several years. One is given the opportunity to meet and converse with interesting and appreciative visitors and to hear their stories. They offer the challenge of the hunt for information and express their gratitude for the effort to access the information they seek. Online volunteers derive great personal satisfaction from this interaction and from the opportunity to help.”
Dr Ted Fleming enjoying the human interaction and the positive effect of helping visitors
Ted was born 1925 and educated in Melbourne. In 1943 he joined the RAAF having had year training with ATC (Air Training Corps). He was selected as a pilot and trained at Benalla and Mallala flying Tiger Moths and Ansons)
Ted continued his training in England and finished on Lancasters with an Australian crew (now all deceased) in 550 Squadron RAF, North Killingholme. (No 1 Group, Bomber Command)
Ted was too late for full ops but was engaged in many diversionary raids and on discharge was accepted into CRTS (Commonwealth Repatriation Training Scheme) to study medicine.
Ted graduated in 1947 and took up a country practice for 8 years before heading back to England to obtain Royal College Fellowships in Surgery. In the late 1960s he rejoined RAAF Reserve as Senior Surgical Specialist with an appointment to RAAF Base Fairbairn.
In 1967 Ted served as Medical Officer on Medevac (Aeromedical Evacuation) to Vung Tau and in 1972 he served as locum specialist surgeon at 4 RAAF Hospital Butterworth. Ted retired from RAAF Reserve in 1980 with the rank of Wing Commander
In addition to his work as in the Online gallery, Ted transcribes oral histories for historians compiling the Official History of Peacekeepers and extracts relevant articles from the three Service newspapers for the historians.
Cynthia Lewis
Discovery Zone
“Working on Sundays you get to meet people from all over the world as well as local and interstate visitors. I enjoy showing the exhibits to children and listening to them pass on their new found knowledge to their parents. Adults always have a story to tell us which makes it a very enriching experience.”
Born in Forbes NSW, grew up in Annandale Sydney NSW.
Married John who was in the Royal Australian Navy in December 1958, spent seventeen years as navy wife, moving to Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore and finally Canberra where we settled and raised our four children, three girls and a boy, we now have an extended family and four beautiful grandchildren.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s I worked as a teacher’s aide at Daramalan College in Dickson ACT, mainly working with children with learning difficulties
I was also a volunteer at Ozanam Nursing Home in Campbell ACT for a number of years and I have been a volunteer in the Discovery Room/Zone since February 2000
Easter Goodieson and myself have worked together on Sunday mornings as a team since February 2000 and are warmly known as the “Sunday Ladies”
Barrie Virtue
Guide
Barrie hard at work giving the visitor the Memorial experience
" I feel that showing people around the finest military museum in the world and telling them something of the service and sacrifice of those who have served Australia in war is a most worthwhile thing to do. We all need to remember what so many have done and given on our behalf. At the same time, working as a volunteer guide is immensely rewarding and satisfying as one sees the growing understanding and appreciation of visitors as they come to realise, perhaps for the first time, the immensity of what so many of their fellow Australians have done. And of course the privilege of being a guide in such an outstanding museum - of which all the guides and staff are so proud - is in itself very great."
Barrie Virtue OBE left a career in country journalism in Lismore (NSW) 44 years ago to spend almost 20 years with Mr Doug Anthony (former Deputy Prime Minister) as Press Secretary and later Principal Private Secretary. He then spent 13 years as Deputy Secretary-General of the Law Council of Australia, and became a voluntary guide at the War Memorial 12 years ago when he retired.
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