On April 8th, 2026, a small group of people gathered at a monument in a town called Oesau, about thirty kilometres from Kupang in West Timor. Most of them were Indonesian. The Australians present were two volunteers who happened to be in the right place, and one man who flew from Sydney specifically to be there. No official Australian representation attended.

This is a post about Sparrow Force — approximately 1,400 Australian soldiers sent to Timor in 1941, whose story most Australians have never heard. It's also about what it means to show up for something when nobody is making you. About a family who has tended a war memorial on their own land for eighty years out of pure goodwill. And about a detail involving two wreaths that I didn't register until I was in the car on the way home — and haven't stopped thinking about since.

Published on Anzac Day, 2026. Read the full post at shelleymcphee.substack.com.

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