Australian High Commission
South Africa
High Commission address: 292 Orient Street, Arcadia, Pretoria - Telephone: +27 12 423 6000 - Fax: +27 12 342 8442 (Admin & Consular)
- Home
- About us
- Visas and migration
- Travelling to Australia
- Doing business with Australia
- Services for Australians
- Study in Australia
- Events
- Development cooperation
- Australia- South Africa relationship
- Media
- About Australia
ANZAC DAY 2007
DIAMOND HILL, SOUTH AFRICA
REMARKS BY THE AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER
H.E. MR PHILIP GREEN OAM
A REVEREND WHITE WAS THE PADRE TO THE FIRST ANZACS TO LEAVE AUSTRALIA, IN NOVEMBER 1914. AFTER THE WAR, WHITE GATHERED SOME TWENTY MEN AT DAWN ON THE 25TH OF APRIL, 1923, ON MOUNT CLARENCE OVERLOOKING KING GEORGES SOUND. THEY SILENTLY WATCHED A WREATH FLOATING OUT TO SEA. HE THEN QUIETLY RECITED THE WORDS “AS THE SUN RISES AND GOETH DOWN, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM”. AT THE TIME, MANY PEOPLE WERE MOVED WHEN THEY HEARD OF THE SERVICE. AND CEREMONIES LIKE THAT INITIATED BY REVEREND WHITE QUICKLY SPREAD.
WHETHER THIS WAS THE FIRST ANZAC DAY CEREMONY OR NOT IS A MATTER OF SOME CONTROVERSY. LIKE MOST GOOD IDEAS, MANY PEOPLE CLAIM ITS PARENTAGE.
WHATEVER ITS ORIGIN, THE ANZAC DAY CEREMONY HAS BECOME A SACRED PART OF THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND CALENDAR. TODAY, ON THIS HILL IN SOUTH AFRICA – FAR FROM AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND TURKEY – WE PARTICIPATE IN WHAT HAS BECOME THE GREATEST RITUAL OF OUR NATIONS.
CARNAGE
WE COME TO REMEMBER THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN IN ALL WARS, FROM ALL NATIONS, IN ALL ERAS. BUT IN PARTICULAR WE RECALL THOSE 16,000 AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS WHO LANDED AT ANZAC COVE AT DAWN ON 25 APRIL 1915.
WE KNOW THAT THE GALLIPOLI LANDINGS WERE A BLUNDER, AND THE RESULT A CATASTROPHE.
BUT IT STILL SHOCKS US TO HEAR THAT, BY THE TIME THE SUN SET ON THAT SINGLE DAY NINETY TWO YEARS AGO, 2000 ANZACS WERE KILLED OR BADLY WOUNDED. BY THE LAST EVENING OF THE CAMPAIGN, SOME EIGHT MONTHS LATER, OVER 8,700 AUSTRALIANS AND 2,700 NEW ZEALANDERS LAY DEAD IN THE BATTLEFIELD. A TOTAL OF 44 THOUSAND ALLIED TROOPS HAD FALLEN – AND AN ESTIMATED 86 THOUSAND TURKS.
WHILE COMPELLING, THESE NUMBERS DO NOT FULLY CONVEY THE HORRORS THAT THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SAW ACTION IN THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN ENDURED.
THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT, BY AN OFFICER FROM NEWFOUNDLAND, W. H. LENCH, GIVES US SOME INSIGHT INTO THAT.
THE PENINSULA LOOMED UP BLACK AND FOREBODING. THE LIGHTER THAT TOOK MY COMPANY FROM THE TROOP-SHIP GROUND ON THE BEACH AND MEN JUMPED ASHORE. THE GUNS WERE BOOMING ALONG THE WHOLE SUVLA BAY FRONT; VEREY LIGHTS SIZZLED IN THE SKY AND THE ORDERS WERE PASSED FROM ONE TO THE OTHER IN WHISPERS.
…
THE WHOLE PLACE SMELT OF SAGE AND DECAYING FLESH – A RICH COMBINATION. SO THIS WAS WAR! I STUMBLED ON AND ON THROUGH THE DARKNESS WITH MY FEARS. THE MACHINE GUNS RATTLED AWAY ON MY LEFT. THE SMELL OF DEATH WAS EVERYWHERE.
I STUMBLED OVER MEN ON THE GROUND MOANING, CRYING IN THE AGONY; THEIR LEGS FROZEN TO THEIR HIPS. THERE WAS AN UTTER UTTERNESS ABOUT IT.
THERE WAS NOT MUCH SUDDEN DEATH; BUT THERE WAS SLOW DEATH EVERYWHERE. THE BODY WAS SLOWING DYING FROM THE INSIDE. WE TALKED TO EACH OTHER; WE LAUGHED OCCASIONALLY, BUT ALWAYS WITH THE THOUGHT OF DEATH IN OUR MINDS – OUR INSIDES WERE DYING SLOWLY.
FORTUNATELY, THE DIARIES OF THE DAY ALSO RECORD LIGHTER MOMENTS. IN AN EPISODE THAT CONVEYS SOMETHING OF THE LARRIKIN CHARACTER OF AUSSIES AND KIWIS, A LETTER WAS LEFT IN THE ABANDONED GALLIPOLI HEADQUARTERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN THIRD LIGHT HORSE BRIGADE, AS THE ALLIES EVACUATED IN THE WINTER OF 1915. THE LETTER WAS ADDRESSED TO THE TURKISH FORCE COMMANDER.
THE BRIGADIER PRESENTS HIS COMPLIMENTS TO OUR WORTHY TURKISH OPPONENTS AND OFFERS THOSE WHO FIRST HONOUR THIS QUARTERS WITH THEIR PRESENCE SUCH POOR HOSPITALITY AS IT IN HIS POWER TO GIVE, REGRETTING THAT HE IS UNABLE PERSONALLY TO WELCOME THEM.
AFTER A SOJOURN OF SEVEN MONTHS IN GALLIPOLI WE PROPOSE TO TAKE SOME LITTLE RELAXATION … AND IN BIDDING ‘AU REVOIR’ TO OUR HONOUR ABLE FOES WE AUSTRALIANS DESIRE TO EXPRESS APPRECIATION OF THE FINE SOLDIERLY QUALITIES OF OUR TURKISH OPPONENTS AND OF THE SPORTSMANLIKE MANNER IN WHICH THEY HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A VERY INTERESTING CONTEST, HONOURABLE, WE TRUST TO BOTH SIDES.
FOR A LITTLE WHILE WE HAVE BEEN WITH YOU, YET A LITTLE WHILE AND YOU SHALL SEE US NOT. FOR IT IS A MATTER OF DEEP REGRET THAT THE ANCIENT FRIENDSHIP SO LONG EXISTING BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND TURKISH EMPIRES SHOULD HAVE BEEN THUS DISTURBED BY THE INSIDIOUS MACHINATIONS OF THE ARCH-ENEMY OF HUMANITY.
WE HAVE LEFT THIS AREA AND TRENCHES - IN WHICH WE HAVE TAKEN CONSIDERABLE TROUBLE AND PRIDE - CLEAN AND IN GOOD ORDER, AND WOULD BE GRATEFUL IF THEY MAY BE SO MAINTAINED UNTIL OUR RETURN, PARTICULAR CARE BEING ASKED IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF SANITATION, SO VITAL TO THE WELL BEING OF AN ARMY.
WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL FIND THE WINE, COFFEE, TOBACCO CIGARETTES AND FOOD TO YOUR TASTE, AND A SUPPLY OF FUEL HAS BEEN LEFT IN CUPBOARD TO AMELIORATE IN SOME MEASURE THE DISCOMFORT DURING THE COLD WATCHES OF THE WINTER.
NATION
ANZAC IS TODAY MUCH MORE THAN A MEMORIAL OF WAR. FOR NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS, THE ANZAC LEGEND SYMBOLISES PART OF OUR COMING OF AGE AS NATIONS. MANY HISTORIANS TRACE OUR RECOGNITION OF SOMETHING THAT DISTINGUISHED AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND FROM THE REST OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE TO THE EVENTS ON THE BEACHES AND HILLS OF GALLIPOLI.
THE GREAT WAR WAS NOT, OF COURSE, AUSTRALIANS’ FIRST EXPERIENCE OF CONFLICT AFTER OUR FEDERATION AS A NATION. FEDERATION ACTUALLY OCCURRED IN THE COURSE OF THE ANGLO-BOER WAR, FOUGHT ON FIELDS INCLUDING THIS ONE. BUT THE SENSE OF AUSTRALIAN-NESS DID NOT ARISE IMMEDIATELY FROM THE ACT OF FEDERATION IN 1901. WE CAN SEE THAT FROM THE EVIDENCE RIGHT HERE. FEW OF THE MEMORIALS ERECTED TO OUR COUNTRYMEN WHO DIED IN THE ANGLO-BOER WAR ACTUALLY REFER TO THEM AS AUSTRALIANS. TYPICALLY, THEY MARK A “NEW SOUTH WELSHMAN”, OR A “QUEENSLAND CAVALRY MAN”.
ONE OF OUR MOST FAMOUS POETS, A.B. PATTERSON, KNOWN AS “BANJO”, LIVED THROUGH BOTH CONFLICTS. HE KNEW THE ANGLO-BOER WAR FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, HAVING SERVED AS A CORRESPONDENT DURING THE CONFLICT IN SOUTH AFRICA. BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL FIFTEEN YEARS LATER, WHEN AUSTRALIANS HAD FACED THE ACID TEST OF THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN, THAT HE WROTE ABOUT THE EMERGENCE OF OUR SENSE OF NATIONHOOD:
AUSTRALIA TAKES HER PEN IN HAND
TO WRITE A LINE TO YOU
TO LET YOU FELLOWS UNDERSTAND
HOW PROUD WE ARE OF YOU.
FROM SHEARING SHED AND CATTLE RUN,
FROM BROOME TO HOBSON’S BAY,
EACH NATIVE-BORN AUSTRALIAN SON
STANDS STRAIGHTER UP TODAY.
THE MAN WHO USED TO ‘HUMP HIS DRUM’,
ON FAR-OUT QUEENSLAND RUNS
IS FIGHTING SIDE BY SIDE WITH SOME
TASMANIAN FARMER’S SONS
THE FISHER BOYS DROPPED SAIL AND OAR
TO GRIMLY STAND THE TEST
ALONG THAT STORM-SWEPT TURKISH SHORE,
WITH MINERS FROM THE WEST.
THE OLD STATE JEALOUSIES OF YORE
ARE DEAD AS PHARAOH’S SOW,
WE’RE NOT STATE CHILDREN ANY MORE –
WE’RE ALL AUSTRALIANS NOW.
VALOUR
WE RECOGNISE TODAY THE REMARKABLE VALOUR OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT AT GALLIPOLI. THE FACT THAT TEN VICTORIA CROSSES WERE AWARDED TO NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS FOR THEIR EFFORTS DURING THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN SPEAKS OF THE BRAVERY SHOWN OUR FOREFATHERS.
WE HAVE WITH US THIS MORNING SOME WHO HAVE DONE MILITARY SERVICE FOR AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, AND WE PAY PARTICULAR TRIBUTE TO THEM.
WE REMEMBER TOO THE MANY AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS WHO HAVE SERVED OVER THE YEARS IN AFRICA. FOR REASONS THAT WE NEED HISTORY BOOKS NOW TO UNDERSTAND, AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALANDERS – MORE THAN 20,000 OF THEM – FOUGHT TOGETHER OVER THIS PIECE OF LAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
WE DO NOT COME TO GLORIFY WAR. IF ANYTHING, THE PURPOSE OF OUR CEREMONY IS TO UNDERLINE THE ERROR MADE BY THOSE WHO SEEK TO RESOLVE DISPUTES BY FORCE. AS ALEXIA’S READING REMINDS US, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, WAR IS EMBARKED ON BY THE OLD, BUT SUFFERED BY THE YOUNG.
COMMEMORATING ANZAC HERE, AT THIS PLACE, REMINDS US OF AFRICANS WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES IN WAR. THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE IS REPRESENTED TODAY BY MAJOR GENERAL NTSHINGA AND WE RECALL WITH HIM THE LIVES LOST BY SOUTH AFRICA AND OTHER AFRICAN DEFENCE SERVICES IN CONFLICT.
WE COMMEMORATE A DEFEAT – A MASSIVE ONE, WHERE ELEVEN THOUSAND AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND LIVES WERE LOST. THAT WE CHOOSE TO MEMORIALISE SUCH A DISMAL FAILURE IS A UNIQUE FEATURE OF OUR TRADITION. IT ILLUMINATES, I BELIEVE, SOMETHING OF THE IRONIC AND SELF-DEPRECATING CHARACTER OF THOSE OF US FROM DOWNUNDER.
MATESHIP
THE SPIRIT OF ANZAC BINDS TOGETHER NOT JUST AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS. IT EMBRACES THE MANY NATIONS WITH WHOM WE SHARED THE CATASTROPHE, AND WHO ARE REPRESENTED HERE TODAY:
• WE HONOUR THE FRENCH, WHO LOST AN APPALLING 10,000 LIVES IN THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE DARDANELLES
• WE REMEMBER THE CANADIANS – OR RATHER THE HARDY NEWFOUNDLANDERS. HIGH COMMISSIONER ARCHIBALD, A PROUD NEWFOUNDLANDER HERSELF, REMINDS ME THAT NO OTHER PART OF MODERN CANADA WAS REPRESENTED AT GALLIPOLI.
• WE RECALL THE GALLANT BANGLADESHIS, INDIANS, AND PAKISTANIS – SADLY ONLY RECORDED AS INDIANS IN THE HISTORIES OF THE DAY – BUT REMEMBERED FOR THEIR BRAVERY.
• WE REMEMBER OUR MATES THE BRITS, WHOSE DECISIONS WERE A CAUSE OF THE DISASTER, BUT WHO SHARED IT WITH US.
• BUT THE MOST REMARKABLE MATESHIP STORY THAT WE ASSOCIATE WITH THE ANZAC LEGEND IS THE BOND THAT WE SHARE WITH THE TURKS. OUR ENEMIES THEN, OUR GREAT FRIENDS NOW. THE GALLIPOLI HISTORY AND THE COMMEMORATION OF ANZAC DAY IS NEARLY AS MUCH A TURKISH EVENT AS IT IS ONE THAT BELONGS TO NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS.
THE ANZAC EXPERIENCE IS A IMPORTANT LINK THAT BINDS TOGETHER KIWIS AND AUSSIES. WE SHARE MUCH WITH OUR COUSINS ACROSS THE TASMAN SEA, AND COMPETE VIGOROUSLY WITH THEM, WITH RIVALRIES FROM RUGBY TO FILM-MAKING. THOSE RIVALRIES CAN BLUR THE VITALLY CLOSE BOND THAT WE SHARE, AND THE ANZAC LEGEND SERVES AS A POIGNANT REMINDER OF OUR SHARED HISTORY AND DESTINY.
AUBREY HERBERT, AN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER WHO LIVED THROUGH THE BATTLE OF LONE PINE – ONE OF THE MOST BLOODY OF THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN – WROTE OF THE FEW DOZEN NEW ZEALANDERS WHO FOUGHT IN THAT BATTLE.
I ADMIRED NOTHING IN THE WAR MORE THAN THE SPIRIT OF THESE SIXTY-THREE NEW ZEALANDERS WHO WERE SOON TO GO TO THEIR LAST FIGHT. WHEN THE DAY’S WORK WAS OVER, AND THE SUNSET SWEPT THE SEA, WE USED TO LEAN UPON THE PARAPET AND LOOK UP TO WHERE CHUNUK BAIR FLAMED, AND TALK. THE GREAT DISTANCE FROM THEIR OWN COUNTRY CREATED AN ATMOSPHERE OF LONELINESS. THIS LONELINESS WAS EMPHASISED BY THE FACT THAT THE NEW ZEALANDERS RARELY RECEIVED THE SAME RECOGNITION AS THE AUSTRALIANS IN THE PRESS, AND MANY OF THEIR GALLANT DEEDS WENT UNRECORDED OR WERE ATTRIBUTED TO THEIR GREATER NEIGHBOURS. BUT THEY HAD A SILENT PRIDE THAT PUT THESE THINGS INTO PROPER PERSPECTIVE.
PERSPECTIVE
PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE IS ONE OF THE PURPOSES THAT ANZAC DAY SERVES. TO RECALL OUR HEROES. TO IDENTIFY OUR MATES. TO SAVOUR OUR FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY.
IT ALSO PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE COSTS BORNE BY OUR FATHERS AND MOTHERS – THE UTTER UTTERNESS THAT THEY ENDURED. THOSE COSTS ARE SUCH THAT, LIVING IN THIS COMFORTABLE AGE, OUR CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGE CAN BARELY DO IT JUSTICE. THE WORDS OF THE POET ARE MORE FITTING.
“THERE’S A LONELY STRETCH OF HILLOCKS;
THERE’S A BEACH ASLEEP AND DREAR;
THERE’S A BATTERED BROKEN FORT BESIDE THE SEA.
THERE ARE SUNKEN, TRAMPLED GRAVES
AND A LITTLE ROTTING PIER;
AND WINDING PATHS THAT WIND UNCEASINGLY.
THERE’S A TORN AND SILENT VALLEY;
THERE’S A TINY RIVULET
WITH SOME BLOOD UPON THE STONES BESIDE ITS MOUTH
THERE ARE LINES OF BURIED BONES
THERE’S AN UNPAID WAITING DEBT;
THERE’S A SOUND OF GENTLE SOBBING IN THE SOUTH.”
*********
DIAMOND HILL, SOUTH AFRICA
REMARKS BY THE AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER
H.E. MR PHILIP GREEN OAM
A REVEREND WHITE WAS THE PADRE TO THE FIRST ANZACS TO LEAVE AUSTRALIA, IN NOVEMBER 1914. AFTER THE WAR, WHITE GATHERED SOME TWENTY MEN AT DAWN ON THE 25TH OF APRIL, 1923, ON MOUNT CLARENCE OVERLOOKING KING GEORGES SOUND. THEY SILENTLY WATCHED A WREATH FLOATING OUT TO SEA. HE THEN QUIETLY RECITED THE WORDS “AS THE SUN RISES AND GOETH DOWN, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM”. AT THE TIME, MANY PEOPLE WERE MOVED WHEN THEY HEARD OF THE SERVICE. AND CEREMONIES LIKE THAT INITIATED BY REVEREND WHITE QUICKLY SPREAD.
WHETHER THIS WAS THE FIRST ANZAC DAY CEREMONY OR NOT IS A MATTER OF SOME CONTROVERSY. LIKE MOST GOOD IDEAS, MANY PEOPLE CLAIM ITS PARENTAGE.
WHATEVER ITS ORIGIN, THE ANZAC DAY CEREMONY HAS BECOME A SACRED PART OF THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND CALENDAR. TODAY, ON THIS HILL IN SOUTH AFRICA – FAR FROM AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND TURKEY – WE PARTICIPATE IN WHAT HAS BECOME THE GREATEST RITUAL OF OUR NATIONS.
CARNAGE
WE COME TO REMEMBER THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN IN ALL WARS, FROM ALL NATIONS, IN ALL ERAS. BUT IN PARTICULAR WE RECALL THOSE 16,000 AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS WHO LANDED AT ANZAC COVE AT DAWN ON 25 APRIL 1915.
WE KNOW THAT THE GALLIPOLI LANDINGS WERE A BLUNDER, AND THE RESULT A CATASTROPHE.
BUT IT STILL SHOCKS US TO HEAR THAT, BY THE TIME THE SUN SET ON THAT SINGLE DAY NINETY TWO YEARS AGO, 2000 ANZACS WERE KILLED OR BADLY WOUNDED. BY THE LAST EVENING OF THE CAMPAIGN, SOME EIGHT MONTHS LATER, OVER 8,700 AUSTRALIANS AND 2,700 NEW ZEALANDERS LAY DEAD IN THE BATTLEFIELD. A TOTAL OF 44 THOUSAND ALLIED TROOPS HAD FALLEN – AND AN ESTIMATED 86 THOUSAND TURKS.
WHILE COMPELLING, THESE NUMBERS DO NOT FULLY CONVEY THE HORRORS THAT THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SAW ACTION IN THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN ENDURED.
THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT, BY AN OFFICER FROM NEWFOUNDLAND, W. H. LENCH, GIVES US SOME INSIGHT INTO THAT.
THE PENINSULA LOOMED UP BLACK AND FOREBODING. THE LIGHTER THAT TOOK MY COMPANY FROM THE TROOP-SHIP GROUND ON THE BEACH AND MEN JUMPED ASHORE. THE GUNS WERE BOOMING ALONG THE WHOLE SUVLA BAY FRONT; VEREY LIGHTS SIZZLED IN THE SKY AND THE ORDERS WERE PASSED FROM ONE TO THE OTHER IN WHISPERS.
…
THE WHOLE PLACE SMELT OF SAGE AND DECAYING FLESH – A RICH COMBINATION. SO THIS WAS WAR! I STUMBLED ON AND ON THROUGH THE DARKNESS WITH MY FEARS. THE MACHINE GUNS RATTLED AWAY ON MY LEFT. THE SMELL OF DEATH WAS EVERYWHERE.
I STUMBLED OVER MEN ON THE GROUND MOANING, CRYING IN THE AGONY; THEIR LEGS FROZEN TO THEIR HIPS. THERE WAS AN UTTER UTTERNESS ABOUT IT.
THERE WAS NOT MUCH SUDDEN DEATH; BUT THERE WAS SLOW DEATH EVERYWHERE. THE BODY WAS SLOWING DYING FROM THE INSIDE. WE TALKED TO EACH OTHER; WE LAUGHED OCCASIONALLY, BUT ALWAYS WITH THE THOUGHT OF DEATH IN OUR MINDS – OUR INSIDES WERE DYING SLOWLY.
FORTUNATELY, THE DIARIES OF THE DAY ALSO RECORD LIGHTER MOMENTS. IN AN EPISODE THAT CONVEYS SOMETHING OF THE LARRIKIN CHARACTER OF AUSSIES AND KIWIS, A LETTER WAS LEFT IN THE ABANDONED GALLIPOLI HEADQUARTERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN THIRD LIGHT HORSE BRIGADE, AS THE ALLIES EVACUATED IN THE WINTER OF 1915. THE LETTER WAS ADDRESSED TO THE TURKISH FORCE COMMANDER.
THE BRIGADIER PRESENTS HIS COMPLIMENTS TO OUR WORTHY TURKISH OPPONENTS AND OFFERS THOSE WHO FIRST HONOUR THIS QUARTERS WITH THEIR PRESENCE SUCH POOR HOSPITALITY AS IT IN HIS POWER TO GIVE, REGRETTING THAT HE IS UNABLE PERSONALLY TO WELCOME THEM.
AFTER A SOJOURN OF SEVEN MONTHS IN GALLIPOLI WE PROPOSE TO TAKE SOME LITTLE RELAXATION … AND IN BIDDING ‘AU REVOIR’ TO OUR HONOUR ABLE FOES WE AUSTRALIANS DESIRE TO EXPRESS APPRECIATION OF THE FINE SOLDIERLY QUALITIES OF OUR TURKISH OPPONENTS AND OF THE SPORTSMANLIKE MANNER IN WHICH THEY HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A VERY INTERESTING CONTEST, HONOURABLE, WE TRUST TO BOTH SIDES.
FOR A LITTLE WHILE WE HAVE BEEN WITH YOU, YET A LITTLE WHILE AND YOU SHALL SEE US NOT. FOR IT IS A MATTER OF DEEP REGRET THAT THE ANCIENT FRIENDSHIP SO LONG EXISTING BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND TURKISH EMPIRES SHOULD HAVE BEEN THUS DISTURBED BY THE INSIDIOUS MACHINATIONS OF THE ARCH-ENEMY OF HUMANITY.
WE HAVE LEFT THIS AREA AND TRENCHES - IN WHICH WE HAVE TAKEN CONSIDERABLE TROUBLE AND PRIDE - CLEAN AND IN GOOD ORDER, AND WOULD BE GRATEFUL IF THEY MAY BE SO MAINTAINED UNTIL OUR RETURN, PARTICULAR CARE BEING ASKED IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF SANITATION, SO VITAL TO THE WELL BEING OF AN ARMY.
WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL FIND THE WINE, COFFEE, TOBACCO CIGARETTES AND FOOD TO YOUR TASTE, AND A SUPPLY OF FUEL HAS BEEN LEFT IN CUPBOARD TO AMELIORATE IN SOME MEASURE THE DISCOMFORT DURING THE COLD WATCHES OF THE WINTER.
NATION
ANZAC IS TODAY MUCH MORE THAN A MEMORIAL OF WAR. FOR NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS, THE ANZAC LEGEND SYMBOLISES PART OF OUR COMING OF AGE AS NATIONS. MANY HISTORIANS TRACE OUR RECOGNITION OF SOMETHING THAT DISTINGUISHED AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND FROM THE REST OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE TO THE EVENTS ON THE BEACHES AND HILLS OF GALLIPOLI.
THE GREAT WAR WAS NOT, OF COURSE, AUSTRALIANS’ FIRST EXPERIENCE OF CONFLICT AFTER OUR FEDERATION AS A NATION. FEDERATION ACTUALLY OCCURRED IN THE COURSE OF THE ANGLO-BOER WAR, FOUGHT ON FIELDS INCLUDING THIS ONE. BUT THE SENSE OF AUSTRALIAN-NESS DID NOT ARISE IMMEDIATELY FROM THE ACT OF FEDERATION IN 1901. WE CAN SEE THAT FROM THE EVIDENCE RIGHT HERE. FEW OF THE MEMORIALS ERECTED TO OUR COUNTRYMEN WHO DIED IN THE ANGLO-BOER WAR ACTUALLY REFER TO THEM AS AUSTRALIANS. TYPICALLY, THEY MARK A “NEW SOUTH WELSHMAN”, OR A “QUEENSLAND CAVALRY MAN”.
ONE OF OUR MOST FAMOUS POETS, A.B. PATTERSON, KNOWN AS “BANJO”, LIVED THROUGH BOTH CONFLICTS. HE KNEW THE ANGLO-BOER WAR FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, HAVING SERVED AS A CORRESPONDENT DURING THE CONFLICT IN SOUTH AFRICA. BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL FIFTEEN YEARS LATER, WHEN AUSTRALIANS HAD FACED THE ACID TEST OF THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN, THAT HE WROTE ABOUT THE EMERGENCE OF OUR SENSE OF NATIONHOOD:
AUSTRALIA TAKES HER PEN IN HAND
TO WRITE A LINE TO YOU
TO LET YOU FELLOWS UNDERSTAND
HOW PROUD WE ARE OF YOU.
FROM SHEARING SHED AND CATTLE RUN,
FROM BROOME TO HOBSON’S BAY,
EACH NATIVE-BORN AUSTRALIAN SON
STANDS STRAIGHTER UP TODAY.
THE MAN WHO USED TO ‘HUMP HIS DRUM’,
ON FAR-OUT QUEENSLAND RUNS
IS FIGHTING SIDE BY SIDE WITH SOME
TASMANIAN FARMER’S SONS
THE FISHER BOYS DROPPED SAIL AND OAR
TO GRIMLY STAND THE TEST
ALONG THAT STORM-SWEPT TURKISH SHORE,
WITH MINERS FROM THE WEST.
THE OLD STATE JEALOUSIES OF YORE
ARE DEAD AS PHARAOH’S SOW,
WE’RE NOT STATE CHILDREN ANY MORE –
WE’RE ALL AUSTRALIANS NOW.
VALOUR
WE RECOGNISE TODAY THE REMARKABLE VALOUR OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT AT GALLIPOLI. THE FACT THAT TEN VICTORIA CROSSES WERE AWARDED TO NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS FOR THEIR EFFORTS DURING THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN SPEAKS OF THE BRAVERY SHOWN OUR FOREFATHERS.
WE HAVE WITH US THIS MORNING SOME WHO HAVE DONE MILITARY SERVICE FOR AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, AND WE PAY PARTICULAR TRIBUTE TO THEM.
WE REMEMBER TOO THE MANY AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS WHO HAVE SERVED OVER THE YEARS IN AFRICA. FOR REASONS THAT WE NEED HISTORY BOOKS NOW TO UNDERSTAND, AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALANDERS – MORE THAN 20,000 OF THEM – FOUGHT TOGETHER OVER THIS PIECE OF LAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
WE DO NOT COME TO GLORIFY WAR. IF ANYTHING, THE PURPOSE OF OUR CEREMONY IS TO UNDERLINE THE ERROR MADE BY THOSE WHO SEEK TO RESOLVE DISPUTES BY FORCE. AS ALEXIA’S READING REMINDS US, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, WAR IS EMBARKED ON BY THE OLD, BUT SUFFERED BY THE YOUNG.
COMMEMORATING ANZAC HERE, AT THIS PLACE, REMINDS US OF AFRICANS WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES IN WAR. THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE IS REPRESENTED TODAY BY MAJOR GENERAL NTSHINGA AND WE RECALL WITH HIM THE LIVES LOST BY SOUTH AFRICA AND OTHER AFRICAN DEFENCE SERVICES IN CONFLICT.
WE COMMEMORATE A DEFEAT – A MASSIVE ONE, WHERE ELEVEN THOUSAND AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND LIVES WERE LOST. THAT WE CHOOSE TO MEMORIALISE SUCH A DISMAL FAILURE IS A UNIQUE FEATURE OF OUR TRADITION. IT ILLUMINATES, I BELIEVE, SOMETHING OF THE IRONIC AND SELF-DEPRECATING CHARACTER OF THOSE OF US FROM DOWNUNDER.
MATESHIP
THE SPIRIT OF ANZAC BINDS TOGETHER NOT JUST AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS. IT EMBRACES THE MANY NATIONS WITH WHOM WE SHARED THE CATASTROPHE, AND WHO ARE REPRESENTED HERE TODAY:
• WE HONOUR THE FRENCH, WHO LOST AN APPALLING 10,000 LIVES IN THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE DARDANELLES
• WE REMEMBER THE CANADIANS – OR RATHER THE HARDY NEWFOUNDLANDERS. HIGH COMMISSIONER ARCHIBALD, A PROUD NEWFOUNDLANDER HERSELF, REMINDS ME THAT NO OTHER PART OF MODERN CANADA WAS REPRESENTED AT GALLIPOLI.
• WE RECALL THE GALLANT BANGLADESHIS, INDIANS, AND PAKISTANIS – SADLY ONLY RECORDED AS INDIANS IN THE HISTORIES OF THE DAY – BUT REMEMBERED FOR THEIR BRAVERY.
• WE REMEMBER OUR MATES THE BRITS, WHOSE DECISIONS WERE A CAUSE OF THE DISASTER, BUT WHO SHARED IT WITH US.
• BUT THE MOST REMARKABLE MATESHIP STORY THAT WE ASSOCIATE WITH THE ANZAC LEGEND IS THE BOND THAT WE SHARE WITH THE TURKS. OUR ENEMIES THEN, OUR GREAT FRIENDS NOW. THE GALLIPOLI HISTORY AND THE COMMEMORATION OF ANZAC DAY IS NEARLY AS MUCH A TURKISH EVENT AS IT IS ONE THAT BELONGS TO NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS.
THE ANZAC EXPERIENCE IS A IMPORTANT LINK THAT BINDS TOGETHER KIWIS AND AUSSIES. WE SHARE MUCH WITH OUR COUSINS ACROSS THE TASMAN SEA, AND COMPETE VIGOROUSLY WITH THEM, WITH RIVALRIES FROM RUGBY TO FILM-MAKING. THOSE RIVALRIES CAN BLUR THE VITALLY CLOSE BOND THAT WE SHARE, AND THE ANZAC LEGEND SERVES AS A POIGNANT REMINDER OF OUR SHARED HISTORY AND DESTINY.
AUBREY HERBERT, AN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER WHO LIVED THROUGH THE BATTLE OF LONE PINE – ONE OF THE MOST BLOODY OF THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN – WROTE OF THE FEW DOZEN NEW ZEALANDERS WHO FOUGHT IN THAT BATTLE.
I ADMIRED NOTHING IN THE WAR MORE THAN THE SPIRIT OF THESE SIXTY-THREE NEW ZEALANDERS WHO WERE SOON TO GO TO THEIR LAST FIGHT. WHEN THE DAY’S WORK WAS OVER, AND THE SUNSET SWEPT THE SEA, WE USED TO LEAN UPON THE PARAPET AND LOOK UP TO WHERE CHUNUK BAIR FLAMED, AND TALK. THE GREAT DISTANCE FROM THEIR OWN COUNTRY CREATED AN ATMOSPHERE OF LONELINESS. THIS LONELINESS WAS EMPHASISED BY THE FACT THAT THE NEW ZEALANDERS RARELY RECEIVED THE SAME RECOGNITION AS THE AUSTRALIANS IN THE PRESS, AND MANY OF THEIR GALLANT DEEDS WENT UNRECORDED OR WERE ATTRIBUTED TO THEIR GREATER NEIGHBOURS. BUT THEY HAD A SILENT PRIDE THAT PUT THESE THINGS INTO PROPER PERSPECTIVE.
PERSPECTIVE
PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE IS ONE OF THE PURPOSES THAT ANZAC DAY SERVES. TO RECALL OUR HEROES. TO IDENTIFY OUR MATES. TO SAVOUR OUR FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY.
IT ALSO PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE COSTS BORNE BY OUR FATHERS AND MOTHERS – THE UTTER UTTERNESS THAT THEY ENDURED. THOSE COSTS ARE SUCH THAT, LIVING IN THIS COMFORTABLE AGE, OUR CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGE CAN BARELY DO IT JUSTICE. THE WORDS OF THE POET ARE MORE FITTING.
“THERE’S A LONELY STRETCH OF HILLOCKS;
THERE’S A BEACH ASLEEP AND DREAR;
THERE’S A BATTERED BROKEN FORT BESIDE THE SEA.
THERE ARE SUNKEN, TRAMPLED GRAVES
AND A LITTLE ROTTING PIER;
AND WINDING PATHS THAT WIND UNCEASINGLY.
THERE’S A TORN AND SILENT VALLEY;
THERE’S A TINY RIVULET
WITH SOME BLOOD UPON THE STONES BESIDE ITS MOUTH
THERE ARE LINES OF BURIED BONES
THERE’S AN UNPAID WAITING DEBT;
THERE’S A SOUND OF GENTLE SOBBING IN THE SOUTH.”
*********