Ex Service organisation 1
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to join you for your ANZAC day ceremonies; to me it is great privilege to be with you today and represent the Australian defence force on this ANZAC day.
We meet here today, not to glorify war or praise victors, but to remember those who have served our country during times of conflict and crisis, and to reflect upon their selfless sacrifice.
To all Australians, ANZAC day is a tradition, paid for in blood and celebrated in our freedom. It is a day in which not only do we salute the ANZACs, but in paying tribute to them, we also take the opportunity to invigorate our national spirit and pride.
On this day, in 1915, a group of volunteer Australian and New Zealand soldiers found themselves wading ashore before dawn at a small beach on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. Many of these men were only teenagers, some as young as 16. All were anxious to prove their courage and national identity.
Over the eight months following the landing, those young ANZACs underwent a 'trial by ordeal'. In total 36,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers were killed or wounded at Gallipoli.
But in those terrible battles, young Australians earned a reputation for courage, self-reliance and mateship. The experience drew Australians together as a nation and established the national character. The standards that they set and the ANZAC spirit, have been handed down ever since to all the Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen who followed them. From WW2 to Korea, Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, the gulf and many peacekeeping operations in the middle east, Pakistan, Southeast Asia, and Africa.
This same spirit is represented among the diverse group of veterans gathered here today. As the years go by the numbers will continue to dwindle.
However, the ANZAC spirit forged at Gallipoli will never be forgotten. I believe this is why Australians come together every ANZAC day. We do it to remember the ANZACs and their achievements; and we should remember them not as old soldiers from a distant war, but as the young Australians they were in 1915.
Our vast country with its harsh beauty and open skies, helps to shape healthy, confident, competitive, innovative and freedom, loving individuals, who with good leadership and high motivation, can more than match the best in the world; in whatever they do.
The ANZACs showed us these same qualities. We have the ability to face challenges together and overcome them, to put community before self, to be courageous, determined, self-reliant and strong. We should be proud of our heritage. This is the spirit of ANZAC; the spirit that we must pass to the next generations.
Ex Service organisation 2
On this day, in the darkness, before dawn, the ANZACs stormed ashore in a place now known as ANZAC cove. It was our first major contribution to the world as a nation - Australia was only 14 years old. 2000 ANZACs were dead by the end of that day, but through perseverance, courage and comradeship they held their ground. It was certainly a baptism of fire. The campaign lasted another 8 months, until the 35,000 ANZACs remaining were evacuated. We should never forget the deeds, courage and fortitude of these original ANZACs. For example at lone pine where in just over two days, from 6 august 1915, seven Victoria Crosses were awarded for valour to Australians. They established a tradition and national pride that we should be proud to follow.
These ANZACs and many thousands of other men and women went on to fight in frightful battles in Europe, where small village names are etched in our history. Fromelles, Bullecourt and Mont St Quentin to name a few. we remember the terrible losses of the trench war in Europe and the brilliant victories of general sir John Monash and the Australian corps in France in 1918.
Of course, there are many other names from other wars where Australian lives were lost in the cause of a better world. We remember the airmen who flew in hazardous missions over Europe in WW2. The gallant pilots who fought in the victory at Milne Bay. We remember the sailors and submariners who were away from home for long periods on hazardous missions fighting to keep the vital sea lanes open, HMAS Sydney, Midway and Coral Sea. There were battles near our home land in the inhospitable terrain of New Guinea. We remember those who became POW's.
Later Australians fought with distinction in Korea and the battle of Kapyong springs immediately to mind. We took part in campaigns such as Borneo and Malaya. Our longest ever commitment to a conflict was in Vietnam, where over almost eight years, 46,000 Australian men and women served - some volunteers and some conscripts - but all there to do their duty.
But ANZAC day is not commemoration of the victories or defeats of the Australian armed forces at war. Instead we simply remember that individual, ordinary Australian men and women were prepared to make personal sacrifices, many who gave their lives, for the freedom and quality of life that we enjoy today. As all servicemen can tell you, none who goes to war, returns the same person, and many carry hidden wounds with them years later.
We do celebrate and commemorate the ANZAC spirit which typifies the personal sacrifice that we need to make for the greater good, if our society is to grow and prosper, and i mean to grow in more than simply economic terms. Our commitment to WW1 was not a huge contingent of professional soldiers nor a battle hardened Army. Rather it comprised ordinary Australians who believed strongly in a cause, world peace, and rather leave it up to someone else, took it upon ourselves to do something about it. They gave up their normal lives in the peace and quiet of the bush, country areas and cities of pre war Australia because they felt it was their duty.
In all my reading of WW1 and the original ANZACs, some very clear images emerge. Firstly, they were men and women of great character, resilience, selflessness and perseverance. They looked after each other and would never consider leaving a comrade behind. Officers share the same hardships and danger equally with all their soldiers.
Secondly, they possessed an enormous desire to do their duty for their country. While they were not professional soldiers, once convinced that the war was for a just cause, they made the commitment and got on with the job with energy and initiative. They took great pride in showing what Australians could do and matched it with the best in the world and they were successful as a result.
Finally, the 1st AIF was a great society, a community, based on equality, tolerance and a fair go for all. They did not care where a person came from, their religion, or the colour of their skin, only that they did their job well. Well led, the ANZACs adapted quickly and were second to none.
The spirit of ANZAC is as relevant today to all of us as it was all those years ago. We need to be vigilant that our society remains one that values freedom, tolerance and a fair go for all. We need to maintain their sense of commitment, courage and perseverance to get through the tough times. The need for us all to look after each other is probably greater now than at any other time in the past and ANZACs continually showed this sense of humanity and compassion. The ANZACs focused on what was really important as we must do today in our everyday lives and the qualities exemplified by these ANZACs are of great relevance to use here today.
Lest we forget.
Ex Service organisation 3
This morning I would like to talk about three aspects of ANZAC day.
- why do we commemorate ANZAC day on the 25th April?
- what the name of the day represents?
- the nature of the ANZAC legacy.
To the date firstly. April 25 is of course the anniversary of the day Australian troops landed at Gallipoli in 1915. However, this event in isolation doesn't seem enough to make this date significant. Gallipoli was not the first time that Australians had been in battle and it was by no means an outstanding success. Australians had previously fought in the Maori wars, had deployed to Sudan in 1885, and had fought again in the Boer war between 1899 and 1902. Gallipoli was not even an Australian battle, for we landed and fought alongside troops from New Zealand, Britain, France and Newfoundland. So why have we chosen April 25?
What made Gallipoli different for Australia was that it was the first major battle we Australians fought as a nation. Soldiers from every state of the new federated Australia volunteered and fought. What seared itself into our national soul was the sheer scale of casualties.
Gallipoli lasted eight and one half months. In that time 7,600 Australians and 2,500 New Zealanders were killed; 24,000 were wounded. Gallipoli was a battle we lost, and people still ask why we celebrate defeat. The answer is, I believe, that in commemorating ANZAC day we never set out to celebrate victory. Had we wanted to, we had plenty of other opportunities in our military heritage.
After Gallipoli, Australians won many famous battles in France, Flanders and Palestine in the Great War, and in North Africa, the Middle East, the south west Pacific, in the air and at sea in subsequent wars. This is not to mention Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam in which Australians fought with distinction. But, to return to my point, April 25th is not about military victory. As a people we choose a day when loss of war first scarred the conscience of a young nation. The loss was felt across the whole community and it was a tragedy we can all associate with.
My second point about ANZAC concerns the very term, ANZAC day. If you think about it, ANZAC is not a battle, and ANZAC is not a place. ANZAC is a collective noun for a group of people. Thus ANZAC day gives us as a nation the opportunity to think as individuals, ordinary Australians serving the nation in times when we as a democracy have seen our land or interests threatened to such a degree that it has been necessary for us to go to war.
We think of those who served. Those who joined together to make the formidable fighting and support forces that Australia was and still is proud of. We salute their fellowship and courage.
We think of the families, those who stayed behind. They battled their own problems in tough war times and supported those who fought. We salute their endurance and strength. We think of the prisoners and wounded - those who still suffer today.
Above all, on ANZAC day, we honour those who died for us, for our nation Australia and for peace.
But what of the ANZAC legacy? The fact that ANZAC day is a day for the people is evident in the way we mark it. It is not a day of military parades and power. It is a day of gatherings of veterans, or reunions, of services, of community involvement, of reflection and honoring our forebears.
If we do celebrate anything on ANZAC day it is the legacy that those who fought at ANZAC gave us, and those who followed them strengthened and enriched. In the face of adversity, the ANZACs demonstrated beyond any doubt the necessary military virtues of duty, courage, teamwork, resolution and self sacrifice.
But to these they added a few unique qualities of their own; mateship, trust, a discipline based on earned respect and not assumed worth, initiative, resourcefulness, wry humour and, what is often forgotten, a respect for the courage and capability of friend and foe alike. The excellent and unique reputation surrounding ANZAC survives even today in our armed forces.
ANZAC day is a great Australian and New Zealand tradition. It is celebrated all over the two nations and wherever Australians are overseas. It is our day - a day to remember with affection the courage of people and the value of friendship - to honour the dead and to acknowledge those who suffer still from the effects of war.
We do not celebrate victory or glorify war - we celebrate the human spirit - the spirit of ANZAC.
Ex Service organisation 4
To me it is a great privilege to be with you today and represent the Australian defence force on this ANZAC day.
We meet here today, not to glorify war or praise heroes, but to remember those who have served our country during times of conflict and crisis, and to reflect upon their selfless sacrifice.
To all Australians, ANZAC day is a tradition, paid for in blood and celebrated in our freedom. It is a day in which not only do we salute the ANZACs, but in paying tribute to them, we also take the opportunity to invigorate our national spirit and pride.
On this day in 1915, a group of volunteer Australian and New Zealand soldiers found themselves wading ashore before dawn at a small beach on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. Many of these men were only teenagers, some as young as 16. All were anxious to prove their courage and national identity.
Over the eight months following the landing, those young ANZACs underwent a 'trial by ordeal'. In total 36,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers were killed or wounded at Gallipoli.
But in those terrible battles, young Australians earned a reputation for courage, self-reliance and mateship. The experience drew Australians together as a nation and established the national character. The standards that they set, the ANZAC spirit, has been handed down ever since to all Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen who followed them in all subsequent wars.
The same spirit is represented among the diverse group of veterans gathered here today. As the years go by the numbers of veterans who march dwindle. In time, the veterans of more recent wars will also disappear.
The ANZAC spirit forged at Gallipoli must never be forgotten. I believe this is why Australians come together every ANZAC day. We do it to remember the ANZACs and their achievements; and we should remember them not as old soldiers from a forgotten war, but as the young Australians they were in 1915.
Our vast country, with its harsh beauty and open skies, helps to shape healthy, confident, competitive, innovative and freedom loving individuals, who with good leadership and high motivation, can more than match the best in the world, in whatever they do.
The ANZACs showed us theses same qualities. We have the ability to face challenges together and overcome them, to put community before self, to be courageous, determined, self-reliant and strong. We should be proud of our heritage.
This is the spirit of ANZAC; the spirit that we must pass to the next generation.
Ex Service organisation 5
It is a great privilege for me to represent the Australian army and to give this years address. The theme for the address today is that we have an obligation to continue to 'fight on' in peace time, facing new challenges, in the same way our veterans faced adversity in many wars. Our servicemen and women fought in a belief that their various contributions would help to make a better world, and we should seek to honour their contributions by striving for our best in our daily lives.
I would like to recall the commitment and gallantry of an Australian soldier from WW1 to amplify this theme. Although that campaign is now growing distant, we should never over look the courage and commitment of all Australians who have gone before us. The story of Alfred Shout is one I am sure will inspire you.
Alfred Shout volunteered for the 1st Australian Imperial Force in 1914, on the outbreak of war. He was posted to the 1st Battalion, and like many of those early volunteers – described as the cream of Australia's youth – he helped to create the ANZAC legend that did so much to bond the young nation of Australia. LT Shout's unit landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, and he was awarded the military cross after courageous bayonet charges and deliberate exposure to enemy fire. He was badly wounded a few weeks later, but discharged himself from a hospital ship early, in order to get back to leading his platoon.
Some of the fiercest fighting in the Gallipoli campaign occurred in August 1915, with Australians – including LT Shout's men – seeking to take positions on the ridges at the Neck and Lone Pine, as part of a desperate allied offensive. For those who saw the 1980's version of the movie Gallipoli, the final tragic scenes were based on these attacks. CAPT Shout's VC citation typifies this fighting: 'on the morning of AUG 9 1915, CAPT Shout and his men charged down the trenches strongly occupied by the enemy, and threw a number of bombs, killing eight and capturing the remainder. Later, from the position gained in the morning, he captured a further length of the trench under similar conditions and he continued to bomb the enemy at close range, until he was severely wounded, losing an eye and part of his arm. Despite these terrible injuries, he continued to proceed further, and had managed to light several more bombs when he was mortally wounded in the chest by enemy fire. He still continued to direct his men until he passed out, and he died the next day from his wounds'.
I discovered the story of CAPT Shout amongst the writings, from 1916, of a CPL Macqueen, who had also served on Gallipoli. He wrote of how all the survivors of the 1st Battalion had felt dearly the loss of a soldier, a leader and a gentleman. CPL Macqueen recalled in his writings that on the night before the attack Alfred Shout had cheered his men, saying 'we will make a name for Australia and ourselves tomorrow Mac'. CPL Macqueen wrote that over four days Alfred Shout certainly made a name for himself, 'as a LT on the day of the charge at Lone Pine, made a CAPT the next, earned his VC the next, and the next day he died'.
From that original 1st Battalion of 800 or so men, casualties by 1918 would total 700 – almost the whole unit. Australian casualties in WW1 totalled 59,000 dead, and 152,000 wounded. From a population of 5 million, that represents 1% killed. In WW2 we lost 32,000 dead and 100,000 wounded or POW. In conflicts since WW2 in Korea, Borneo and Vietnam there have been 2,000 killed overseas.
Why then is the story of CAPT Shout, and the casualty figures, relevant to us now? The theme I mentioned at the outset is worth recalling. We, the succeeding generations, have an eternal obligation to remember the efforts of women and men who have served Australia in war. We can honour their contributions by trying to live in the manner they would have expected from us. This is a challenge, as outlined in 1946 by a RAAF pilot, who had spent his school years in the Geelong area, by the name of John Gorton – later Australia's 24th pm.
When speaking at a service marking the first ANZAC day after WW2, Mr Gorton noted that 'the returned servicemen would seek us to secure advances for our community and our country – to reduce poverty, increase education and improve our spiritual standard of living; and for Australians to take their place in the world, not as a self-sufficient sealed off unit, but as a respected member of the international family'. He added that 'the foundation stones have been laid in war, so in peace we continue to build'.
Mr Gorton's words are most relevant today, as we face many new challenges, such as preserving our environment, assisting our fellow aboriginal Australians, and helping other nations to live peacefully. These are the areas in peace we can build on. So how do we do this as individuals? Our efforts may not seem much, but it is valuable to reflect on the practical issues that confront us daily, where you and I could contribute to a better Australia. For example:
- Do we respect our community and our nation?
- Do we attend church.
- Do we work, not just for money, but to contribute?
- Do we play sport with a sporting attitude.
- Do we behave as leaders for our youth?
- Do we read, to learn from history and do we have a quest for excellence.
These are some ways that we can 'fight on', to be worthy of the wartime efforts that we commemorate today.
I can imagine standing on the beach at ANZAC cove, and later, walking along the neck and lone pine, seeing well kept graves marking the spots where Australians, such as CAPT Shout, rest today, thousands of miles from home and their grieving families.
Australian war graves can be found all over the world, from many wars. Sadly, as the years roll on, the efforts of our forefathers are less well known. I ask you, on ANZAC day, to remember the many Australians, including the veterans here with us today, who have fought the good fight for Australia. We must treasure ANZAC day as a special day, when we recall with pride the efforts of Australians to stand up together for worthwhile principles.
I also ask you to take up the challenge of peace in your own life, remembering the challenges of war faced by our returned servicemen and women. The many problems that face our world today require our commitment and perhaps there is a special challenge for you that appears insurmountable. On ANZAC day we should ask ourselves, how would the returned veteran, or CAPT Shout, expect us to face these challenges? If we can draw from the contributions of those who have gone before us, I suggest that the right course of action will emerge for us, and our veterans efforts will have been remembered in a practical way that would please them.
Ex Service organisation 6
Time dims the memory of ordinary events, but not great events. In a nation's history, great events - whether in peace or war - live in our memories regardless of time. They are deemed great not necessarily for what they achieve, nor for whether they are reckoned to be victories or successes.
Rather, the great events are distinguished by the quality of the human endeavour they call upon, by the examples they create for ordinary men and women, and by the legends they inspire.
So it is with ANZAC day
On 25th April 1915, 16000 New Zealanders and Australians surged ashore at the foot of rugged cliffs on the Dardanelles peninsula, in Turkey, to open a campaign intended to give allied shipping access to the black sea, bring help to Russia, and perhaps force Turkey out of the war.
It was - historians say - an ill-conceived campaign in pursuit of a vague objective, premised on an under-estimation of the military prowess and character of the Turkish soldiers, and of the tactical advantages they held.
But the cream of the New Zealand and Australian armies - volunteers all - committed themselves with no hesitation about the nobility of their cause, and fought with great courage, skill and audacity.
In the eight months which followed their first landing, some 50,000 ANZACs were committed to the battlefront, alongside 36,000 British, French and Indian comrades. When the last of them was withdrawn as winter set in, more than 11,000 New Zealanders and Australians lay dead, and with them many more allied and Turkish soldiers.
Gallipoli was a tactical defeat, but the New Zealanders and the Australians' withdrawal was a sort of tactical victory before the enemy realised what had happened.
But the achievements of the ANZACs were to be measured other than on the battlefield. It was not just that New Zealanders and Australians were serving overseas in the name of their fledgling nations for the first time.
By their commitment, their courage and their comradeship, the ANZACs set standards that inspired their countrymen for generations to come. The legends they established gave fresh voice to new feelings of national pride in both young nations, and the news of their suffering, on reaching the homes of anxiously awaiting families, brought people together in ways they had not known before.
For New Zealanders and Australians, ANZAC is our own day.
It is a day on which we mark the deeds of men and women who had come to see themselves as New Zealanders and Australians, and who were mourned by people who regarded themselves as New Zealanders and Australians.
The names on the public memorials existing on virtually all our towns and cities are important and regular reminders of the losses our nations felt in those darker days.
The first ANZACs indeed command and deserve the respect and remembrance of present and future generations of all New Zealanders and Australians, regardless of race, colour or creed.
On every 25th of April since 1915, New Zealanders and Australians at home and abroad have gathered to commemorate not just those ANZACs who died on that day, but every one of our service men and women who has died in war or as a result of it since then.
We remember on this day those who fell in both world wars, in conflicts in Korea, Malaya, Borneo, and Vietnam since then, and while on service with international peacekeeping forces wherever they were.
But it was Gallipoli which gave us pride, not in war, but in the knowledge that New Zealanders and Australians, put to the test, would not fail. That spirit and tradition sustained our forces in many later battles and trials, and in many ways, sustains us now.
And tradition is important. Suppose our troops had performed badly at Gallipoli, lost their nerve and their morale? How much more difficult would it have been for those who followed. The Gallipoli tradition laid down the rules and still helps us today to face new challenges.
Duty, patriotism, individual sacrifice, and the affirmation of the New Zealanders and Australian relationship are the enduring legacies of Gallipoli and all subsequent conflicts involving our two nations.
The men and women who forged the ANZAC spirit made sure that those who led them earned their respect. They all understood the values of independence, freedom and fairness and - above all - possessed a willingness to defend these things if need be. Because freedom only survives as long as people are willing to defend it.
That is the spirit ANZAC handed down to us. If we lose that ANZAC spirit, we lose all.
So here we stand today, along with thousands of others in cities and townships throughout New Zealand and Australia, to honour great men and women and a great tradition. We gather, as we shall always gather, not to glorify war, but to remind ourselves that we value who we are and the freedoms we possess, and to acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of those who contributed so much in shaping the identity of this proud nation.
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