Sky News host Alan Jones says the legend of the Rats of Tobruk began 80 years ago, yesterday, but suspects "the classrooms of Australia" would likely be teaching "absolutely nothing" about this.
"Yesterday, 80 years ago, the Rats of Tobruk were born; soldiers of the Australian-led garrison that held the Libyan Port of Tobruk in World War II," he said.
Between April and August 1941, 35,000 allies, including 14,000 Australian soldiers were besieged in Tobruk by a German/Italian Army commanded by General Rommel.
The soldiers adopted Tobruk's network of below-ground defensive positions built by the Italian Army before the war, which was used as propaganda to derisively refer to the garrison as the Rats of Tobruk.
"By the time the Rats were relieved of duty, between August and October of 1941, 3000 had become casualties; 941 taken prisoner," Mr Jones said.
"But the Australians reclaimed the name as a badge of pride, even striking their own unofficial medal bearing the likeness of a rat; and the metal used to make the medals came from a German bomber that the rats had shot down with captured German guns.
"Today, the Rats of Tobruk hold an important place within the ranks of our returned servicemen. There is a Rats of Tobruk memorial in Canberra.
"In March 1944, the original members of the Rats of Tobruk formed the North-Bondi sub-branch of the Returned and Services League of Australia. It is still known as Tobruk House or the Rat House.
"In 2007, the Victorian contingent of the Rats of Tobruk association decided they could no longer afford the upkeep of Tobruk House, the inner-city Melbourne meeting hall that had been purchased by the association in the 1950s.
"The then Victorian association of the Rats of Tobruk had 1800 members. By 2007, there were just 80 left, all aged in their 80s and 90s.
"They decided to sell the hall and if they could raise $1.5 million, donate it for research at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne where a neuroscience ward, the Rats of Tobruk ward had been named after them.
"But a wealthy industrialist, Bill Gibbons, outbid a Sydney developer, bought Tobruk House and told the veterans they could keep it as long as they wanted it.
"The memory of the Rats of Tobruk should remain as long as we understand the notions of service and sacrifice."