Angus Trumble, the recently appointed director of the National Portrait Gallery, owes his existence to a pigeon Australian War Memorial director, Dr Brendan Nelson, said on Sunday.
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Dr Nelson, whose decision to host a day celebrating the role of animals in Australia's war efforts for more than a century attracted hundreds of visitors to a commemorative ceremony at the AWM at 9.30am, said Mr Trumble's grandfather had been a military aviator with the Royal Flying Corps during World War I.
''In 1918 his grandfather, Tom Trumble, had been flying a plane that was shot down at sea,'' he said.
''One of the crew members was killed and everybody else aboard would have died if he had not been able to release a pigeon, kept under the seat for emergencies, with their co-ordinates attached to its leg.
''The pigeon was able to get the message through and some hours later the survivors were rescued by a destroyer that had been dispatched for that purpose.''
Dr Nelson said that when Mr Trumble told him the story he had observed ''life sometimes hangs by the thinnest of gossamer threads''.
Subsequent speakers, including former military animal trainer Nigel Allsopp, repeatedly made that point.
Mr Allsopp said that hundreds, if not thousands, of Australian and coalition soldiers in Afghanistan owed their lives to explosive detection dogs and military working dogs. Many animals had paid with their lives to protect their troops.
He cited an incident, recounted by VC winner Corporal Mark Donaldson, in which in the middle of a fierce clash with the Taliban a dog handler had called out ''has anybody seen Quake?'' Quake was later found lying dead. He had come across two Taliban in an ambush position and latched onto one of them.
''The other shot him through the head,'' Dr Nelson said. ''He spoiled their ambush but paid with his life.''
Dogs are not the only non-human heroes. Mr Allsopp said two Australian birds were among just 32 pigeons to have been awarded the Dickin Medal, their equivalent of a VC, during World War II.
They were pigeon DD.43.T.139 and pigeon DD.43.Q.879, both of the Australian Army Signal Corps. Pigeon 139 flew 60 kilometres through a heavy tropical storm to bring aid to Army Boat 1402 which had foundered on Wadou Beach in the Huon Gulf. A rescue ship arrived in time to salvage the craft and its valuable cargo of stores and ammunition.
Pigeon 879 was released during an attack by Japanese on a US marine patrol on Manus Island to warn headquarters of an impending enemy counter-attack. Two other birds were shot down but 879 reached headquarters in time for the patrol to be extricated.
A special feature of Sunday's ceremony was the decision to make it animal friendly.
About 25 dogs turned out for the occasion and, despite a warning from Dr Nelson about the high probability of ''unscripted moments'' on Friday, they were generally well behaved.
Sarbi, the explosives detection dog which disappeared into enemy territory during the same engagement that saw Mark Donaldson perform the actions recognised by his Victoria Cross, made her second visit to the memorial. The first was when she received her Purple Cross, the RSPCA's highest accolade for courage by an animal.
As unfazed as ever by the attention of the media and the public, Sarbi took all the pats that came her way and was happy to pose for the camera with six of her peers.
Sarbi is now in retirement and living happily with her handler from Afghanistan, an arrangement we were assured is eminently satisfactory to both of them.
