A worthy pause
Volume 11, No. 57, November 30, 2006

Solemn: Minister for Defence Brendan Nelson at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Remembrance: At the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Photo by AB Nina Nikolin

EIGHTY-eight years after the guns fell silent on Europe’s Great War battlefields, Australians the world over joined in pausing to remember and honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the pursuit of freedom.
In cities and towns around the country, services were held to gather and mark the event.

In Canberra at the Australian War Memorial Minister for Defence Brendan Nelson spoke of the gratitude that Australians held for the efforts and self-sacrifice given by those killed.

“Family epitaphs to the dead, in so few words, say so much of love, life, loss and us,” he said.

“Each of them had only one life – only one chance to use in it in a way that served the interests of others and the welfare of our nation.”

He said that those Australians who wear Australia’s service uniform remind us that there are some truths by which we live that are worth fighting to defend.

“The guns fell silent on this day, at this hour 88 years ago. No words can do justice to the lives of the 61,720 Australians who were then dead,” he said.

“How do we bring meaning to 155,000 Australians wounded, returning, as they did forever changed, into the arms of families? We honour them by the way we use our lives and shape our nation.”

Dr Nelson said the efforts of the fallen had made Australia what it is today.

“They forged national identity in values that are ours. Ones that make us who we are,” he said.

“The nature and magnitude of their sacrifice, from a nation of barely five million people who twice rejected conscription, laid the foundation for belief in ourselves.

“Our young nation emerged to take a more confident place in the world.”

In Timor-Leste, ADF and NZDF members from the ANZAC Battle Group held a joint ceremony to mark Remembrance Day at Camp Phoenix.

CO Lt-Col Scott Goddard gave special mention to the five New Zealanders and two Australians killed in Timor-Leste since 1999.

Similar services were also held in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sinai and Solomon Islands.