Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I feel somewhat humbled speaking to this motion, but I certainly appreciate the opportunity to do so. It is doubtful that 100 years ago, when Australian and New Zealand soldiers landed at Gallipoli, they were aware that their landing would become so significant in the history and indeed in the future of Australia. They obviously understood the strategic military importance of their mission. Within days of their landing, they would also have understood that the heavy losses incurred ensured that Gallipoli would become part of the World War I story. But it is very unlikely that they would have foreseen that, 100 years later, Australians of all ages would acknowledge their landing by turning up in record numbers to attend dawn services around the country, undeterred by weather conditions, be it wet or cold, and that Anzac Day would have become, in my view, the most significant national day in the Australian calendar.

Just as Australians from every part of Australia had volunteered their service to Australia in World War I, so too, 100 years later, every community around the country paused to honour them, and they did so with very deep and genuine sincerity. It is a unique Australian and New Zealand characteristic that I am not aware is replicated by any other country in quite the same way. Notably—and perhaps regrettably, but understandably—none of Australia's World War I veterans are still with us.

Importantly, the commemoration of Anzac Day goes to the heart of the Australian identity: our character, our culture, our values and what we stand for. It is often said that Gallipoli was Australia's first major military engagement as a nation and that through Gallipoli Australia earned its place and its respect on the world stage. It is also acknowledged that the heavy losses of lives at Gallipoli, including some 8,700 Australian lives, ensured its place in Australian history. Quite rightly, Anzac Day has become immortalised in Australian life.

The centenary events have shone a light on World War I and particularly on Gallipoli. The centenary has exposed so much about World War I that was previously not known. Individual stories have emerged about people, places and events about which little had previously been reported. We have heard several of those stories in contributions by members in this place in the course of this debate. With each story, respect for our Anzac members grows. Each story provides another piece to our understanding of the complete picture and further entrenches the relevance of the Gallipoli landing and other World War I events. Such was the case in the Makin electorate, which I represent, where local researchers, historians, family members, writers and school students uncovered a wealth of local stories that had previously not been told and were simply not recorded anywhere.

Additionally, centenary events and services were held throughout the community, again bringing a much deeper knowledge to members of the community than was previously known. I was unable to get to all of those events, but I attended services at the Salisbury and Tea Tree Gully RSLs; at Modbury, Golden Grove, Keithcot Farm and Ardtornish primary schools and Golden Grove Lutheran Primary School; and at Torrens Valley Christian School. I was represented by staff at the combined Golden Grove, Pedare and Gleeson College high school services, as well as being represented by staff at a poppy-planting service at Civic Park at Modbury that was organised by the Tea Tree Gully council. I also attended services at the Ferns Lifestyle Village, the Viceroy nursing home, the Springfields nursing home and the Pegasus Pony Club, as well as attending the Anzac parade through the streets of Adelaide on Anzac Day.

I was particularly impressed that a number of the nursing homes in fact put on services within their nursing homes for the elderly residents of those homes who could not otherwise have attended dawn services but who undoubtedly had recollections. Some of them wore their medals on the day. They were much more, and much more closely, connected with World War I and World War II and other military events than any of today's generation, and to them it meant so much that a service had been organised for them.

As I said, there were obviously many other events that I simply could not get to for one reason or another, sometimes because they coincided with events being held at the same time.

But what I was also very much impressed by was that the services at the Salisbury and Tea Tree Gully RSLs saw record crowds. In fact, several thousand people attended both of those events, and people had started arriving an hour before the services. I have been going to those services now for years and years, and I have watched the numbers grow. They have been growing, but indeed I have never seen numbers of the size of the crowds that I saw at this year's services. That is heartening because, as I see more people coming out to the service, it tells me that more and more people both understand and respect what our Defence men and women have done and continue to do for our country. Indeed, when I went to Keithcot Farm Primary School to attend their service I was asked to give an address. There were some 500 children in the school hall, and I asked the school children to put up their hands. Because this service was after 25 April, I asked the school children how many of them had attended dawn services. Over half of the school children had attended dawn services. Half of the school children put their hands up, and it was wonderful to see.

World War I has been referred to as the Great War and so too it was for Australia. Of a population of 5 million at the time, of which about 1 million were males aged between 15 and 45 years, 420,000 Australian men enlisted for service. Of those enlisted, 330,000 left our shores. 270,000 or thereabouts returned, and of those over 150,000 were physically wounded. From South Australia some 6,000 died from the almost 35,000 who had enlisted. The figures speak for themselves. No community and very likely no Australian family was left unscarred.

In respect of that I commend all the communities across Australia that have picked up on the centenary project funds and established projects within their communities. By doing so they continue to tell the story—and different stories—to each and every part of Australia about the importance of our Defence men and women.

The effort in respect of World War I was indeed a national effort of unparalleled commitment. Our Anzacs set a standard of mateship, courage and grit that has been upheld by Australian Defence Force personnel ever since. It also created an enduring bond between Australia and New Zealand that has stood the test of time.

Last year, accompanied by my wife, I had the opportunity along with Madam Speaker, the member for Forrest and Senator Glenn Sterle to visit war cemeteries at West Flanders. We visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, where we laid a wreath and crosses alongside many of the war graves. The crosses had been sent to us by school children from around Australia. We also visited Buttes New British Cemetery and a memorial to the Australian 5th Division at Polygon Wood, and then went on to the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.

The experience of those visits is unforgettable. Standing in the midst of the war graves, often those of unknown soldiers, in a faraway land brings home the reality of World War I—a cemetery filled with boys and young men, all of whom had a life ahead of them and family, friends, fiancees and loved ones waiting for their return, who had plans and dreams for their future. Those plans and dreams all came to a sudden end, leaving others to carry the heartache. I recall one headstone. I cannot recall the words precisely, but it was something like, 'My time here at Gallipoli is finished. I am coming home on Saturday.' Clearly that young man did not.

To all those who served Australia at Gallipoli and indeed at every other battle of World War I and in every other Defence engagement that Australia has been involved in I simply say thank you. To the families of the 101,000 Australians who have lost their lives serving Australia I offer my condolences. Australia would not be the great country that it is were it not for those people. We shall remember them all as a nation as we do each and every Anzac Day. Lest we forget.

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