A FAMILY TRADITION
SPIRIT OOF ANZAC RRUNS IN THE BLBLOOD
SERVING in the army is in this young Mt Sheridan man’s blood.
Former Royal Australian Artillery gunman Cameron Vonarx will be thinking of his ancestors at the Cairns RSL’s cenotaph service on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old is a fourthgeneration army man who hopes to follow in the path blazed by his great grandfather, Francis John Vonarx, a Wangaratta-born World War One soldier who served in the 2nd Light Horse Regiment.
“It is just something in the family that is considered a need to do before you go on in life. They don’t expect you stay in there but you do your time,” he said.
Mr Vonarx started his service in 2014 at the Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka, about 9.5km southwest of Wagga Wagga.
He then spent almost three years in Darwin with the RAA before he was discharged due to family issues and landed in the Far North.
“I did a couple of food and sleep deprivations. After the 48-hour mark you don’t care about eating, you just want to go to sleep,” he said.
“There are two ways you can go. You can become a tougher person or you could just break down. It just depends how you take it; everyone is different.”
Mr Vonarx, who now works full time in reception at the Cairns RSL, has his sights firmly set on joining the 51st Battalion – the Far North Queensland Regiment that serves as a Regional Force Surveillance Unit.
Every operator is crosstrained in various low-visibility skills, such as weapons, survival, sniping, medic, small boat handling, driving, tracking and air operations.
In the meantime, he is using his role at the Cairns RSL sub branch and museum to learn about his family’s history.
“It is good to be here because I actually have abilities to research, so I have learnt so much,” he said.
He is trying to recover his grandfather Mervyn Rowe Vonarx’s World War II medals for his father and serviceman, Peter Vonarx.
“They kept to themselves a lot,” Mr Vonarx said.
“It is a thing that is really hard to talk about. Even though I didn't go over or anything. Even talking about some things I did or had to do in the army are difficult.”
He will don his father’s and replicas of his great grandfather’s medals at the Anzac Day service on Tuesday.
“It is just a thing you should do to pay your respects. People have fought and died for us to be here,” he said.
“People should pay their respects and acknowledge other people’s sacrifice.”
IT IS JUST A THING YOU SHOULD DO TO PAY YOUR RESPECTS. PEOPLE HAVE FOUGHT AND DIED FOR US TO BE HERE. PEOPLE SHOULD PAY THEIR RESPECTS AND ACKNOWLEDGE OTHER PEOPLE’S SACRIFICE CAMERON VONARX