The Lt-Col. Ralph Honner Leadership Oration
Commissioner Mick Keelty APM
Grand Ballroom
Sofitel Wentworth
61 – 101 Phillip Street, Sydney
Friday 29 February 2008
E&OE
(Check Against Delivery)
His Excellency, Major-General Michael Jeffrey AC CVO MC (Retd), Governor General of Australia;
Her Excellency, Mrs Marlena Jeffrey;
His Excellency, Mr Charles Lepani, High Commissioner of PNG;
The Kokoda Diggers in attendance;
The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels in attendance;
Mr Patrick Lindsay, Chairman, Kokoda Track Foundation;
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you, Patrick (Lindsay), for the invitation to deliver the Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Honner Leadership Oration. It is my great pleasure to be here with you this evening.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land and acknowledge their elders both past and present and their abiding connection with this land.
I receive many requests to deliver speeches. More often than not I talk to topics that relate more directly to the AFP’s core business, such as border security, counter terrorism or high-tech crime. Admittedly, it is not often I am asked to deliver a speech about leadership, and yet, leadership is absolutely crucial to the AFP, especially as we expand our roles in peacekeeping, capacity building and new forms of policing.
So let me put this question to you, here at the start of my speech tonight. Have the basic premises of leadership changed?
The story of Ralph Honner would suggest that there are some enduring principles. But while the principles have managed to transcend the various phases and theatres of operations for both our Defence Forces and Police Forces, the operating environment is characterised by some new elements. Unlike Damian Parer’s dispatching of cans of exposed film on stretchers with the evacuating wounded 1, instantaneous communication delivered by new types of technology and increased scrutiny delivered by an insatiable media appetite to report on and from frontline activities are just some of the new challenges facing leaders.
I will discuss the changed operating environment later but Ralph Honner was, without any doubt or debate, a successful leader. He inspired his troops, instilling in them the confidence to succeed, even in the face of insurmountable odds. And succeed they did.
Ralph’s style of leadership was put to the test when he arrived in Isurava on 16 August 1942, to take command of the 39th Battalion, who were fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Track. His men were small in numbers, physically and mentally exhausted, and about to face several battalions of formidable Japanese troops.
Modern leadership theory suggests there are five traits, above all others, which people look for in a leader. Those traits are honesty, forward-looking, competent, inspiring and intelligent. 2
I would add one other – passion. Passion without ego but passion with humility.
Ralph Honner had each of these leadership traits in abundance.
Lieutenant Colonel Honner was undeniably the right man for his times. In many ways, Ralph was ahead of his times – perhaps even a leader for all times.
Ralph Honner was born in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 17 August 1904. Because he was born on Saint Hyacinth’s feast day, he had the mixed blessing of being named Hyacinth Ralph Honner.
That he preferred to be called Ralph might reflect his unease at being named after a 13th century Dominican priest. Despite his life-long devotion to Catholicism, Hyacinth was a step too far.
Over his long life, Ralph had many careers. He was a teacher, a lawyer, a soldier, a diplomat and a politician. This was unusual in Ralph’s day and put him ahead of his time.
Whether inspiring his students to embrace learning as a life-long venture, rallying his exhausted troops to fight one more battle, or representing Australia’s interests as Ambassador to Ireland, Ralph remained an inspirational leader his entire life.
This annual dinner and oration, almost fourteen years after his death, is testament to his enduring legacy; as a great leader and a great Australian.
In fact, I feel a certain kinship with Ralph, although I regret never having had the opportunity to meet him. His father was a police officer at the small Western Australia town of Three Springs, about 300 kilometers north of Perth. In my family, both my uncle and my grandfather were police officers.
Although his police officer father was not to prove an influence on young Ralph’s choice of careers, it is hard to imagine that his father didn’t exert some influence on the philosophy of leadership his son would eventually embrace.
There is a touch of irony that as a Police Commissioner, I should be addressing an audience of mainly military people about a great military leader but this is part of the changing operating environment that I mentioned earlier.
Two weeks ago today, I was in Timor Leste with the Chief of the Defence Force, Air Marshall Angus Houston. We had travelled there together with Prime Minister Rudd after the attempted assassinations of both President Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Gusmao.
It was not an unfamiliar visit for me as I have travelled to Timor Leste or East Timor more times than any other country in the world. That is saying something when you realise that the AFP is in 28 countries and thirty two cities around the world. In fact, last Sunday I was to open our newest overseas office in Dakar, Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh National Police is one of many police forces in our region that we are seeking to assist to develop at the same time as establish long term relationships.
The economic and social outlook for Bangladesh means that it is one of many developing countries in the world that could easily fall victim to or become a participant in transnational crime.
That is not to mention the devastation for Bangladesh midway through this century should the predictions of the impact of rising sea levels as a result of climate change become a reality.
So we are present in many countries and cities as liaison officers but we have a significant presence in other parts of the world as part of what we call the International Deployment Group (IDG). The police from the IDG currently serve in Afghanistan, The Sudan, Cyprus, The Solomon Islands and of course, Timor Leste.
No doubt you will immediately recognise that, with the exception of Cyprus, our Australian Defence Force is also deployed to these countries. But while we have taken significant steps to improve our interoperability with the ADF including rapid deployments such as those two weeks ago where we were both on the ground within 36 hours of the Government decision to deploy; there are significant differences.
I vividly recall our first deployments to East Timor to work with the UN towards the ‘popular ballot’ back in 1999. We had requested the Australian Government to allow us to deploy unarmed. The notion was a foreign one to the government who had not ever contemplated an ‘unarmed deployment’ of police to work with the ADF who were obviously heavily armed.
Our thinking was that for us to stand by the ballot boxes during the election campaign bearing our weapons was ‘more of the same’ for a community who had suffered so much at the hands of militia groups and armed forces.
While the decision proved worthwhile it did produce some extraordinary tales of individual bravery and initiative.
One example that comes to me is the story of two of our officers Phil Hunter and Max Knoth who were with an East Timorese Electoral officer protecting the ballot box and attempting to return it from Atabe to Gleno in the Western Provinces of East Timor. This is the area where the militias had a stronghold and incidentally, it is also home to the renegade Reinado who was recently killed during the gun battle at President Ramos-Horta’s residence.
Our two officers were attempting to leave the area with the ballot box when they were set upon by a crowd of militia and during the scuffle the East Timorese Electoral officer was stabbed. They placed him and the ballot box in their car and protected him from further violence eventually taking him back to their home. There, they waited through the night for reinforcements.
Unfortunately, the East Timorese Electoral officer died during that night, so they remained with his body and the ballot box until the morning when help finally arrived. It would have been a harrowing experience to say the least. But for every story of bravery and devotion to duty there must be many more we never hear about.
The role of leaders is to determine what is best for the situation they and their people are confronting. It is never a ‘one size fits all’ arrangement. Leadership requires precision understanding of human behaviour and the ability to know the capacity of every individual working for you.
We all know our personal limitations and how far to push ourselves. Leaders need to know that about themselves and the people they lead.
Today’s leaders have to contend with both the role of leader and extraordinary instantaneous scrutiny often by people who do not know the full circumstances or who, with 20/20 hindsight offer their ‘expert’ opinion from behind the ‘safety barrier of responsibility’ as I like to call it .
The ever present media is there ready to capture failure or distress – there is rarely any real interest in good news.
We do not want people to stay away from leadership for fear of failure or perceived failure. This means that when inspirational and rare leaders become a part of our history, it is important to highlight their achievements so that the leaders of tomorrow have a quest, or a bench mark or a role model.
This applies to policing, to the military, to sport or to just being an outstanding member of our community.
For me, though, the spirit of Ralph Honner – the person he was, the leader he was, and the Australian he was - is embodied in Damien Parer’s famous photo of him taken at Derna, in Libya.
In Parer’s photo, Ralph looks happy. One could even say he looks content with his lot in life. What’s not immediately discernable from Parer’s photo of Ralph is the reality of the situation. As Commander of C Company, 2/11th Battalion – who were all West Australians – Ralph and his men had just captured the aerodrome at Derna, despite its heavy defence.
But to look at Parer’s photo you would think Ralph didn’t have a care in the world, despite the heavy burden he carried on his shoulders.
Paper’s photo depicts a soldier who is clearly resilient. That Ralph could smile in the face of adversity must surely have given his men a sense of hope and provided much needed emotional support to keep his men going.
The concept and practices of leadership have evolved over time.
Ralph probably didn’t know, or care, about leadership theories. He used his interpersonal skills – what today might be called ‘emotional intelligence’ – to motivate his men. He was instinctively kind to people, a trait not often associated with leadership but one which I believe is a crucial element.
Although we might debate whether there are in fact “born leaders”, Ralph clearly was. He was naturally gifted with the necessary traits to succeed. He was, without a word of over-statement, an authentic leader.
Ralph was arguably one of the first situational leaders in Australia’s military history, before it was ever understood or even written about. He was adaptable and adjusted to the situation. Ralph knew when it was appropriate to take charge and lead his men, just as he knew when to be supportive and when to be “one of the boys”.
In policing, as well as the military, we frequently hear of the need for leadership styles to be adapted to specific situations. Sometimes, a command and control approach is best, such as when police or troops are involved in a difficult altercation or operational exercise. At other times, we need those more personal qualities of leadership I mentioned, if we are to succeed in the increasingly turbulent and changing world we operate in.
The gradual evolution of approaches to leadership is reflected in modern organisations like the Australian Defence Force and the AFP.
In 2002, when he was Chief of the Air Force, Air Marshal Angus Houston, told an audience that:
“Values-based leadership and communication which encourages team work and puts people first in every Circumstance is the key to success for the Royal Australian Air Force.”3
For me, Air Marshall Houston hits on a very important point about modern leadership, because often in modern leadership we are confronted by people who do not share our values, or who are opportunistic with short term goals.
The modern approach to leadership theory suggests the key to successful leadership is about modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and showing passion in what you do.
Ralph used his people, political and military skills to achieve these leadership outcomes.
Ralph’s orders from his superiors, as history has highlighted, were far removed from the reality of the situation he and his men faced. His orders were to assume command of Maroubra Force and hold the Japanese on the northern side of the Owen Stanley Range until they were relieved by fresh AIF troops of the 21st Brigade, 7th Division.
Ralph’s visionary leadership was evident from the first moments he arrived in Isurava. With thick jungle to the north and south and a steep slope to the east, Ralph quickly recognised the advantage these natural structures could play in impeding advancing troops.
Ralph also recognised that a large grassy area to the west surrounded by scrub would provide the Japanese with the perfect location to mass troops before launching an attack on Australian troops and he prepared accordingly.
The Battalion was already exhausted when Ralph joined them. Their numbers were depleted. They were in no physical condition to face several battalions of determined Japanese troops.
The appearance of the 39th Battalion invoked expressions of shock and dismay from those who had not endured the hardships of battle alongside these men. They were thin and gaunt. The effects of exhaustion, starvation and dysentery were written in the expressions on their faces.
Their clothes were barely fit to be used as rags and their feet were exposed through holes in their boots.
Their diet was strictly rationed and they rarely ate more than tinned bully beef and biscuits.
Many years later Ralph wrote about his first impressions of the 39th Battalion:
“Physically the pathetically young warriors of the 39th were in poor shape. Worn out by strenuous fighting and exhausting movement, and weakened by lack of food and sleep and shelter, many of them had literally come to a standstill.
Practically every day torrential rains fell all through the afternoon and night, cascading into the cheerless weapon-pits and soaking the clothes they wore – the only ones they had. In these they shivered through the long chill vigil of the lonely nights when they were required to stand awake and alert but still and silent. Only the morning brought a gleam of comfort – a turn at sleeping and forgetting, a chance perhaps, to lie and dry in the warmth of the glowing day.”4
Despite their haggard condition, Ralph deployed his five companies at Isurava in a defensive perimeter and fighting withdrawal back along the trail that would eventually win him the unimpeachable respect of his men.
Over two days of relentless fighting, the 39th Battalion, along with the 53rd, managed to halt the Japanese advancement. All along the Kokoda Track, these men fought with raw determination under an inspirational leader.
These men were heroes – “ragged bloody heroes” – as Peter Brune so poetically put it.
They were exhausted, but they gave it their all, with bravery and determination.
The story of the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion’s Kokoda Campaign is, I think it is fair to say, a story about what it means to be Australian. It is a story of triumph by the underdog in the face of impossible odds.
The Kokoda legend was forged in battles like those of the 39th Battalion at Isurava.
Tonight is about the people of Papua New Guinea and the Kokoda veterans. Those brave souls who risked everything they had to defend Australia’s liberty and honour.
It would be remiss of me not to talk a little about Australia and the AFP’s involvement in PNG.
From 1989 to 2005, Australia supported the RPNGC through an AusAID capacity building project, namely the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Development Project.
It is my hope that we are not far away from deploying a small team of advisors to work with the RPNGC. We want to rebuild the relationship following the Constitutional Challenge of 2005 that saw us forced to remove 200 Australian Police who were helping to develop the RPNGC.
The Australian Institute of Police Management is currently conducting leadership training for the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and we would like to offer the same development opportunities to our friends in the RPNGC.
Leadership doesn’t just happen. It can be taught; it can be learned; and it can be developed.
We can always learn from others, and the most successful leaders do. They develop their views on leadership by learning about great leaders, and importantly from those who influenced them, such as parents, siblings and colleagues.
It is also true to say that leaders rely heavily upon their spouses or partners to enable them to achieve their goals. Without Marjorie’s support, I am sure we may never have hear of Ralph Honner when you consider the theatres in which he operated and the calls upon him to go from one operation to another with little time between to be at home. So when we recognise leaders we should also recognise their partners who dont get the limelight but without whose support, leaders’ achievements would be limited.
The truth is, successful leaders are always thinking about leadership, even if they are not always consciously aware of doing it. Successful leaders are constantly, unconsciously studying other people and learning from them.
I think it would be a rare leader who doesn’t work with people who think the same way he or she does. Great success as a leader comes from something even rarer: bringing in people who think differently to you and allowing them to challenge you.
There is no doubt this is not always an easy thing to do. Constant affirmation of our ideas and our opinions and our leadership style fuels us in our respective positions, there’s no doubt about it, but in the long run, it does not make us effective leaders; it does not challenge us to aim higher; and it does not serve those who are relying on us. We should continually strive to question and review our own style; our own approach.
It’s been more than sixty years since the Diggers fought their nightmare campaign along the Kokoda Track, but the leadership, from each and every one of them, remains an inspiration for all of today.
Part of the philosophy of leadership is about harnessing your passions in a way that serves your goals – for Ralph Honner and his troops, that goal was fighting exhaustion to overcome the advancing Japanese.
Ralph Honner was one of Australia’s true giants. A leader for his times with a legacy that endures to this day.
I would imagine if he were alive today, working in any organisation, he would still be achieving extraordinary results due to his leadership abilities. This is another way of saying that while some of the basic premises of leadership have changed we need true leaders like Lieutant Colonel Ralph Honner to remind us of those qualities to which all of us in leadership positions should aspire.
Thank you.
Footnotes
- Damian Parer was a wartime cameraman and photographer. The film ‘Kakoda Front Line’ won Australia’s first Academy Award. It is said that you can spot the outline of a film canister beneath the blankets of wounded soldiers after Parer and Doctor Bill McLaren conceived a plan to dispatch the news reels back to Australia.
- Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. (2007) ‘The Leadership Challenge’ (4th Edition) John Wiley and Sons Inc, CA
- Air Marshal Angus Houston, quoted in ‘Air Force News’, 25 April, 2002.
- Ralph Honner, ‘The 39th at Usurava’, in Peter Brune, ‘We Band of Brothers. A Biography of Ralph Honner. Soldier and Statesman’, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2000, p. 135