Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

Can I thank the shadow minister for his contribution and say how jealous I am of him for having that role at Gallipoli. But I should not be too churlish, because I have on two occasions had the great honour and privilege of doing the Dawn Service address at Gallipoli and once at Villers-Bretonneux. It is the job which has given me the greatest satisfaction since I have been elected in this parliament, which now is nearly 28 years ago. It is a wonderful thing.

A hundred years ago, in the pre-dawn chill, 1,500 Anzacs landed just south of Ari Burnu under the cloak of darkness, at 4.29, and by the end of that day 20,000 Australians and New Zealanders—Anzacs—had landed on those shores. More than 2,000 Anzacs were killed on that bloody first day. So began an epic story of tragedy; of love; of courage; of, I am sure, the sight of some rascals; of Australian mateship; and of the things that have come to embody service to this great country by men and women in uniform from that day forward.

But, sadly, it is not often enough understood that when we landed at Gallipoli on that fateful and dreadful day we were expected. Whilst the site of the landing was not rightly known, there were on that day, 25 April, around 100,000 men and officers of the Ottoman Fifth Army on or near the Gallipoli Peninsula. When we tell this story of 100 years ago, whilst it is very important that we understand what this has meant for us in our early nationhood and subsequently, it was, after all, a military disaster. We know that over 8,000 Australian lives were lost, but they were not on their own. This, I think, is the point we need to understand as well. In that Gallipoli campaign, 8,709 Australians died and 2,779 New Zealanders, our Anzac brothers, died. The Ottoman forces lost 86,692, and the total of the Allied forces who were killed was 44,150.

So the context here is one where Australians were involved in this dreadful battle. It was a foreign shore, of course, for us, and I am sure that many Australians who were involved in this fight were not quite sure why they were actually at Gallipoli, because when they left Australia through Albany in November 1914 they thought they were going to Europe. But, nevertheless, they were there, and opposing them was this mighty Ottoman army, whose soldiers were brave like ours. Their families were wrought asunder, as were ours. I will just read a quote from a wonderful book by Harvey Broadbent, Defending Gallipoli: The Turkish Story. Esat Pasha's chief of staff, Fahrettin Bey, recalled one short episode during August 1915:

One night, a convoy of young soldiers arrive from the Istanbul Military Drill-Ground to fill the cavity in the frontline. As they were moving into marching column carrying their guns over shoulders, I saw my brother-in-law Rafet among them. I told him, 'I will call you tomorrow.' When I got someone to look for him in the morning, I received the news that he was dead. Many young soldiers like him died before shooting a single bullet.

That could be the story of Australians and other Allied soldiers at Gallipoli as well, and it just goes, I think, to demonstrate the importance of understanding how this has affected what we do and how we see ourselves but also how others look at us and how they look at themselves. It was a tragedy—a dreadful tragedy. Sergeant Leon Gellert, who arrived at Anzac Cove on 25 April, said:

The dead would be remembered evermore-

The valiant dead that gazed upon the skies,

And slept in great battalions by the shore.

And indeed they have been. That is why we honour them 100 years later. That is why I was so pleased to be the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and minister assisting the Prime Minister in setting up, in many ways, the framework for these events.

But this came as a result of others doing a great deal of work. It was firstly the National Commission on the Commemoration of the Anzac Centenary, which gave a report in March 2011. It had on it the Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser PC, AC, CH, the Hon. Bob Hawke AC, the RSL president Rear Adm. Ken Doolan AO, former peacekeeper Major Matina Jewell, veterans advocate Kylie Russell and cartoonist and journalist Warren Brown. They gave a report to the government on 28 March 2011. After that report was received, a new board was set up: the Anzac Centenary Advisory Board, chaired by now Sir Angus Houston and then Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston AS, AC, AFC (Retired). His board comprised a large number of very notable Australians. I seek permission to table the list of Anzac centenary board members.

Leave granted.

I also would like to table another list, which is the groups that were set up to advise that board. There was a business group chaired by Mr Lindsay Fox AC. There was a military and cultural history group chaired by Professor Bruce Scates. There was the education and curriculum group chaired by Professor Glyn Davis AC. There was a youth group chaired by Ms Yassmin Abdel-Magied. There was a state, territory and local government group chaired by Ian Campbell PSM. There was a ceremonial commemorative group chaired by Major Gen. Paul Stevens AO (Retired). I seek leave to table the list of members of those groups.

Leave granted.

We have had the benefit of many bright minds working with us to the day of the Centenary of Anzac and also to develop the commemorative events up until Armistice Day 2018. These people were crucial in providing advice to the government to make sure we did it correctly, appropriately and in the right way. In my local electorate I want to thank Mr Martin Glass, who chaired my electoral committee, and his committee members Liz Bird, Liz Clark, Sandy Taylor, Angus Mitchell, Michael Gablonski and Robyn Gregor.

I finish by saying that we would not have had these events in Gallipoli work so successfully if it were not for the commitment of the Department of Veterans' Affairs and all those people who work within it. Initially, of course, the secretary of the department was Ian Campbell. It was subsequently Simon Lewis and, of course, Major Gen. Mark Kelly, who is the MC of the Anzac ceremony. I thank them and all those people in the department for their wonderful work. I thank the Turkish government for their assistance, their work with us and their ongoing support and love for those Australians who are buried in their soil.

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