Prince Harry visits memorial to Aboriginal veterans on second day of Aussie trip

Prince Harry has laid a wreath at the recently-renovated Australian War Memorial, honouring fellow veterans of war in a change of pace on his second day in the country.

The fifth in line to the British throne arrived to minimal fanfare on Wednesday, with the event having not been publicised beforehand.

About 40 mostly staff gathered to watch the Duke of Sussex as he laid a wreath at the For Our Country memorial – which recognises the military service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – following a smoking ceremony.

He was joined by Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson and current and former Aboriginal servicemen, including Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph West, a Murrarawi man and founder of ATSIVA, and David Mayo, a descendant of the Mudburra and Jingili people and former reservist.

As Prince Harry arrived, the small crowd shouted: “Hi, Harry”.

Elliana and partner Brett were attending the War Memorial on Wednesday with seven-month-old daughter Sophia when the came upon the media cordon.

“It was really awesome,” Elliana said of seeing the Duke of Sussex.

“We weren’t expecting it. We were just leaving the memorial for ourselves and just popped down and saw a member of the royal family.”

Concerns about the British royal’s expense to taxpayers did not immediately appear to have been borne out, with the event watched over by only about six police officers.

Opening proceedings, Australian War Memorial Indigenous Liaison Officer and Ngunnawal/Gomeroi man Michael Bell recalled the ceremony of welcoming people in.

“This ceremony of welcome to country is an ancient Aboriginal protocol,” he said.

He explained the memorial was a circle, such as a learning circle, and that the uneven rock represented the difficulty First Nations people had getting in and out of military service.

“We created a place to commemorate, not what to commemorate,” Mr Bell said.

The Duke of Sussex was not accompanied by wife Meghan while in Canberra., arrived in the nation’s capital on a commercial Qantas flight, sitting in the front row, to the surprise of cabin crew who looked delighted to have the duke on board.

After the visit to the memorial, the Duke of Sussex will attend an Invictus Australia reception and the Last Post Ceremony before making a return flight to Melbourne. Harry catches footy fever

Earlier, he started the day by showing off his AFL chops with a kick of the footy at the Western Bulldog’s HQ in Melbourne’s west.

Prince Harry arrived at the AFL training ground on Wednesday morning ahead of his panel talk organised by Movember, where he was keen to discuss fatherhood and the importance of prioritising mental health.

Speaking with the Movember Institute of Men’s Health global director of research Zac Seidler, the duke explained he had been undergoing therapy before his children Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4, were born.

“Certainly from a therapy standpoint, you want to be the best version of yourself for your kids,” he said.

He told the audience parents were now having discussions with their children that “never existed between me and my parents” – the now King Charles III and the late Diana, who divorced when he was young, before Diana’s tragic death when he was 12.

“From my perspective, our kids are our upgrade,” he said.

“That’s not how I was taught but that was my take on it – not to say I was an upgrade of my dad or that my kids are an upgrade of me.

“That’s the approach that I take, to know that with the world the way that it goes, the kids that we bring up in today’s world need to be an upgrade.”

He added he felt a “disconnection” in the early days of fatherhood.

“Certainly I felt a disconnection because my wife was the one creating life, and I was there to witness it,” he said.

“I think for many guys, you try to think about what service can I provide at this point, because my work here is done to some extent.

“And then when it comes back around again, I think the biggest tip that I was given, actually, from my therapist in the UK, was just be aware of how you feel once the baby is born.”

Prince Harry said he was lucky his lifestyle allowed him to be with his children while working.

“I’m fortunate enough to be able to work from home,” he told the panel.

“During Covid, it was like, well, this working from home thing is really not great when you have like small kids running around, jumping into your meetings.”

After his panel chat, Prince Harry was seen walking around the Whitten Oval in Footscray.

There, he was presented with personalised Bulldogs guernseys for Archie and Lilibet, with their names printed on the back.

He was also seen giving the footy a few kicks with children on the oval alongside Bulldogs players Tom Liberatore, Adam Treloar and Matthew Kennedy.

“Good kick man,” he told one child before warning them of the “slippery ball”.

On the pitch, Prince Harry also discussed the key differences between AFL and rugby, before being treated to a performance by members of The Wiggles, John and Lachy.

Following the discussion and amble across the footy field, the duke was headed to Canberra, where he will visit the Australian War Memorial and visit Indigenous veterans.