Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On 25 April our nation commemorated the centenary of the formation of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and their landing at Gallipoli as members of the British Empire force in 1915. This was the first occasion on which Australia as a federated nation had fought together. It was also the first occasion on which Australians had formed and fought as part of a combat unit with our friends the New Zealanders.

On the anniversary of 25 April every year since 1915, Australians, New Zealanders and, indeed, people of other nations have paid tribute to those Australians and New Zealanders who have served and died in all world wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. It is appropriate that we do so. In the centenary of the formation of ANZAC, it is appropriate that this parliament record its thanks, respect and gratitude for those who have served our nation over the last century.

The occasion which gave birth to the Anzacs was not a glorious victory. In fact, it was the complete opposite. The Gallipoli campaign was nothing short of a disaster. It was ill conceived by the British. It was poorly planned. There were many casualties, and it resulted in the defeat of the Allied forces and their withdrawal. The minutes of the war council stated that the objective of the Gallipoli campaign was to:

… bombard and take the Gallipoli Peninsula, with Constantinople as its objective.

The problem was that no-one had explained how that objective was going to be met. There was no intelligence or research submitted on the Turkish defences. No maps were submitted to the war cabinet prior to making that decision about the likely landscape and the defences that the Allied troops would face.

The initial assault was meant to be a naval one. The allies thought that they would be able to sail through the Dardanelles and that that particular territory and stretch of water would be undefended. The reality was that the Turks had well and truly mined the Dardanelles Strait and the British Navy could not get through. So plan B was a land invasion with infantry that would involve the Anzacs, who at that time were stationed in Egypt. So on 25 April 1915 our troops landed at Anzac Cove. Australians and New Zealanders fought with valour and bravery. The Gallipoli campaign was horrific in the toll that it took on our troops. The casualties were many—8,709 Australians were killed and 17,260 were wounded.

In recent times, some have been critical of Australia's reverence for Anzac Day and the fact that we commemorate a defeat. I disagree with this characterisation. It is not the outcome that we remember at Gallipoli; it is the sacrifice. Anzac Day has become Australia's and New Zealand's remembrance day. It is the one day when we as a nation pay tribute to those who served our nation, particularly those who have given their lives—and we have done so for 100 years and we must continue to do so. Some argue that we are being irreverent by playing sport or two-up or having a beer on Anzac Day. Again, I disagree. In fact, on the first Anzac Day in 1916, Sir John Monash, the great Australian general, wrote this in his diary in respect of what occurred in Egypt and the Suez Canal. Sir John Monash wrote:

For the rest of the day everyone was given a whole holiday. We spent the morning in cricket matches and other amusement, and in the afternoon the whole division went down to the canal to swim and took part in a great aquatic carnival. From the Serapeum pontoon bridge both sloping banks of the Suez Canal for fully a mile north were one teeming mass of naked humanity. At times there were over 15,000 men in the water, and whenever the judges launch tooted to notify that the course must be cleared the scamper to the bank was a sight worth seeing and remembering. Of course, we had many comic items not on the programme, including a skit on the memorable landing …

This clearly demonstrates that, in the eyes of a great general like Sir John Monash, the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli was something for our nation to remember but also to come together and celebrate what it means to be Australian.

There is also much debate about the significance of the Anzac campaign in our nation's history and what it signifies. Some say it was the birth of our nation, our coming of age. Of course, this was not the first occasion in which Australians had fought together. We had fought together in the Boer War, although not as a federated nation. Our nation was clearly born at Federation. In my view, our involvement in World War I was an important step in the maturity of our nation. It awoke our confidence in our sense of independence. World War I, and particularly at Gallipoli, Australians proved that we were tough soldiers, that we were great strategists and that we could command troops. In fact, we began Word War I in Gallipoli as the infantry for other nations, but we finished World War I in the command of the troops of other nations and bringing success to pivotal battles that determined the outcome of the war. Many great Australians, including the likes of Sir John Monash, were involved in the command of not only Australian troops but troops from other nations.

In my view, Gallipoli awoke a consciousness of character in the Australian people. It created a belief in ourselves that we would be able to make decisions on our own, become an independent nation and have a confidence and attitude about ourselves—and that pervaded back home once the troops returned. So Anzac Day is principally a time to remember and pay tribute; but, culturally, it is also the symbol of Australian independence, confidence and determination. It is important to our nation's history in that respect. On the centenary of Anzac, it is appropriate that this parliament recognise and pay tribute to it.

Throughout the nation over the last 12 months, communities have been coming together to represent and to pay tribute to those who served. In Kingsford Smith I was proud to have established the Centenary of Anzac Committee, which did a sterling job in taking up applications from groups and members of our community and allocating funding to important projects and events to symbolise our tribute to those who served. I would like to congratulate the members of the centenary grants committee in Kingsford Smith: Tony Waller, Ann Slattery, Ronnie Davison, David Cohen, Roger Perry, Pam Richardson, Colin Flatters and Neil Lee. Our community thanks you for the work that you have done over the last 18 months in ensuring that we had an appropriate celebration and commemoration of the Centenary of Anzac. It culminated in a number of projects, such as plaques being embedded in the footpaths of certain suburban streets named after World War I heroes, a Centenary of Anzac garden at Chifley Public School, the upgrading of the Light Horse monument at East Lakes and other important monuments and events. There was, of course, the spectacular Dawn Service that occurred at Coogee Beach, where 12,000 members of our community came together to pay tribute to those Anzacs. So, on behalf of our community, I again thank the members of our Centenary of Anzac Committee. I thank all of the members of the Kingsford Smith community, particularly the schools, the RSLs and the many other important community groups that came together to ensure that we had an important celebration, an important remembrance, of the sacrifice of those who have served our nation over the last 100 years. Lest we forget.

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