The League was established to maintain the bonds of ...



Good afternoon,

Mrs Dunwoody, staff and students – thank you Molly for your kind introduction.

At the time of Federation, the Australian colonies had troops in China (the Boxer Rebellion) and South Africa (the Boer War) – our combined military heritage had commenced.

But our real coming of age was The Great War.

At the time of the Great War, the population of Australia was just under 4.9 million. Close to 9% of the total Australian population,or about 38% of those men aged between 18 and 44 years old, in excess of 412,000, enlisted and three quarters of them saw overseas service in the first war. They were all volunteers, as unlike other conflicts since, there was no conscription.

Of the 324,000 that journeyed overseas, 61,720 paid the ultimate sacrifice and over 153,000 were wounded and injured.

Let me restate those figures: 1 in 6 who went away did not come home; and of those who came home 1 in 2 had been physically wounded and many others succumbed to the range of mental illnesses that breed in the horrors of war.

One can only imagine what it must have been like during the First World War for those at home, waiting; often with multiple family members serving - often in different theatres of war; worry and dread was a constant companion for those at home. No television coverage, no phone contact, heavily censored newspapers, mail taking months and the telegrams, often delivered by a Minister, providing the first inkling that a tragedy had occurred somewhere on the other side of the world.

The first war brought about much dislocation in business, social, and community activities - all of a sudden the majority of young men, the farm labourers in the district, the apprentices, the legal clerks, the blacksmiths, the shopkeepers and the occasional padre were gone, creating massive holes in the ranks of the district’s footy and cricket teams, church choirs and other local volunteer activities like fire brigades and the town band.

Many of the women had to step up to complete activities previously done by their men, kids had to grow up quickly to replace their elder siblings on the farm - as you can no doubt imagine. Older people had to become full time workers again.

In many of your families you will have heard stories of that sort of courage and commitment made by those at home to try and keep their communities going.

But arriving home between 1918 and 1921 many of the WW1 veterans just got on with their lives and continued to build their communities. Many of them subsequently enlisted for home service or training duties during WW2. Their sons fought in WW2 and Korea. Their grandsons served in Borneo, Malaya and Vietnam and their great-grandsons and daughters have been recently serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In commemorating the Centenary of ANZAC we think of all those who served throughout the Great War. As CEW Bean suggested, 1915 was the real blooding of a nation, our coming of age as a country.

But it also demonstrated to the world the irreverent characteristics of the Australian digger – the bloke who looks after his mates, a bloke who is prepared to get into a fair amount of strife with his mates, the irreverence of not quite saluting officers, but the things that stand out are those unselfish humanitarian acts between mates – Simpson and his donkey and others of his ilk – an enduring image of helping and looking after “yer mate”.

From later generations – we see the similar images during the Second World War in some of Damien Parer’s photographs – the most famous of which is the Aussie soldier helping his mate back across a stream in New Guinea – his mate’s head and eyes totally encased in bandages.

In Vietnam blokes died rather than leave their mates. That image of mateship comes through in all of our military history – we look after each other!

We also shouldn’t forget that ANZAC contains the letters N & Z for New Zealand – the ANZAC’s fought at ANZAC Cove, served together again in the Second WW, Korea, in Vietnam and more recently in Afghanistan. In Vietnam an ANZAC battalion was formed that contained elements of both Australian and New Zealand infantry.

In addition, we were supported by Kiwi artillery and whilst we have significant rivalries with New Zealand, some would even say a sibling rivalry with our neighbours across the Tasman, – they are still our mates and we need always to remember that.

So what do we learn from the six generations of soldiers, sailors and airmen since Federation? When the going gets tough Australian servicemen and women have proved that they are well trained, brave, loyal, passionate and compassionate, cunning, skilful, ingenious and inventive.

Great scroungers, bush lawyers and good mates who play it hard when given the chance.

The current generation can still get into as much trouble as their forebears did in France, Egypt and on all those other stages around the world where Aussies have played up.

So as we reflect on the ANZAC Centenary we need to acknowledge and thank all those who have gone before us and accord them the honour they rightly deserve and offer our gratitude for the good fortune which we have inherited through their commitment, service and sacrifice.

It is important to remember those who have gone before and be thankful that the deeds that have been done in Australia’s name have made our country a better place to live.

Although so much of the history that has shaped this nation concerns war, the strongest images from both world wars are messages of service to others; that is mateship, in the best sense of the word.

Since Federation – close to 2 million people have worn the various uniforms of the Australian defence forces; of those more than 920,000 have served overseas.

The Australian War Memorial website tells us that 102,804 have died. More than 300,000 have been injured, wounded or gassed.

For those Australians who have died on active service; whether it be those Australians who gave their lives on the cliffs of Anzac Cove, in the killing fields of Flanders and the Somme, the deserts of the Middle East, the highlands of New Guinea, the mountains of Korea or the jungle and paddy fields of Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam, or in other far flung places far away from home, we need to ensure that their memory is properly honoured.

It is fundamentally important that no nation forget what sacrifices were made on its behalf by former generations.

The Centenary of ANZAC is not about a celebration of war, it is not about national heroes, it is not about victory, it is a time when we remember those who have fought and died for their country both at home and on distant shores.

Whilst we use ANZAC Day as the date; the date of the ill-fated landing at Gallipoli, we also remember those other famous battles and campaigns - the Somme, Villers Brettoneux, Fromelles, Beersheba, Tobruk, the Kokoda Trail, Kapyong in Korea and Long Tan, Coral and Balmoral in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan; we also remember those who fought at sea and in the air.

To put those losses into perspective - I would like you to think of the MCG, full of people at either a Grand Final or maybe the ANZAC Day game – a full house – over 100,000 people – is LESS than the number of Australian lives lost in war.

In our thoughts should also be those Australian servicemen and women who are currently in far flung lands; on active duty, as part of peace keeping forces, aid detachments and on other humanitarian duty.

This commemoration of the Centenary of ANZAC is not about anything else but remembering in a dignified way the sacrifices of young men and women in war.

There are at least 102,800 reasons to continue to do so - those who paid the supreme sacrifice.

Thank you.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download