John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to join my colleagues in discussing the most important part of heritage that is occupied by the Anzac legacy and to inform the House about events in Bennelong in commemoration of this centenary year. The nation paused on 25 April 2015 to remember the bravery and selflessness shown by Australian and New Zealand soldiers at the Gallipoli landings 100 years ago. And just last week we again paused to remember the 100th anniversary of the battles of Lone Pine and the Nek and the bravery and selflessness shown by Australian and New Zealand soldiers all those years ago.

These moments were not lost in Bennelong, which saw thousands of residents turn out on Anzac Day to commemorate those who served at a number of local memorials. I am immensely proud of the efforts made by our local RSLs and the dedication of the public who turned out to these events. Over 3,000 people attended Epping RSL's dawn service and a further 2,000 were at the dawn march held by North Ryde RSL. In addition, the weeks preceding saw thousands more people attending a number of Anzac services at Ryde Ex-Servicemens Club, Gladesville RSL and the Epping cenotaph. All the local RSLs held beautifully moving commemorations and our history, character and heritage were confirmed by so many people attending.

I would like to mention the hard work of the many people involved in organising these events. There are too many individuals to name them all, but I would like to thank in particular the President of Ryde District Sub Branch, Mr Bernie Cox; the Gladesville RSL Club Vice-President, Mr Peter Astridge; the Epping Sub Branch President, John Curdie; and the Epping Sub Branch Secretary, John Prestige. These men and their respective RSL clubs put in the same dedication to service as they had done during the conflicts. I congratulate them all.

Bennelong has a close connection to the Anzac legend. Between 1914 and 1918, 2,000 men volunteered from the area that is now covered by Bennelong. At the time, there were a mere 3,500 dwellings in that same region. This level of volunteering was almost unprecedented across the country. Remarkably, these volunteers came in a steady stream throughout the war, barely dipping after the retreat from Gallipoli or during the defeat and stagnation of the Western Front in 1916. This patriotism and bravery is incredible and it is worthy of the huge turnout seen across Bennelong last month.

There is also a proud tradition of commemorating Anzac Day in Bennelong, which I would like to briefly explore. The President of the Ryde District Sub Branch, Bernie Cox, has researched the history of the Anzac service itself and made some very interesting discoveries. The Anzac legacy tells us tales of the diggers commemorating the first few anniversaries of the Gallipoli landings from the trenches of the Western Front, but less is less remembered about the origins of the early Anzac services held on Australian soil. It is believed that these first services were held in Martin Place before the Hyde Park Cenotaph was completed in 1936. These initial ceremonies were not full of the military regalia that we see now; they were more modest affairs and were led by just four Sydney ex-servicemens clubs. One was from Lane Cove and another was a now defunct factory in Concord populated largely by demobbed veterans. However, the bulk of the veterans apparently came from two branches local to Bennelong—the Ryde and Eastwood branches. It is believed that Ryde RSL is descended from this group of ex-servicemen who forged the tradition of commemoration that we have recently taken part in.

Of course, it is not just our excellent local RSL clubs that have been remembering our veterans this Anzac Day. Thanks to the federal government's Anzac Community Grants local schools, charities and other organisations have been able to share in over $100,000 to assist with their commemorations. These grants have gone to a wide range of groups and allowed them to remember the Anzacs in a variety of ways. Indeed, I spoke about one particularly memorable effort—namely, the 'Ryde Goes to War' book compiled by the Ryde District Historical Society—in this place recently. This is an amazing resource for future generations and I again commend its dedicated authors for their incredible work.

In addition a number of schools, including Ryde, Gladesville, Denistone East and Epping public schools, have used the funds to build commemorative gardens or improve existing memorials. Epping RSL Sub-Branch has used their grant to collect together their WW1 memorabilia and display it for the public. And St Albans Parish in Epping has used their grant to restore their memorial to the local soldiers who fought in the First World War. I recently attended the re-opening of the Anzac memorial garden at Gladesville Public School. This garden has been in place for many years to remind students of their forebears who went to both world wars. However, it was overdue for refurbishment and needed some TLC. Last year they applied to my office for an Anzac Centenary Grant and were successful in receiving $18,000 towards their garden. I was honoured to represent the Minister for Veterans' Affairs at the event to open the new garden, and the students performed beautifully. An incredible job has been done to create a moving yet practical garden and I congratulate the school and all involved for their excellent work.

The Centenary of Anzac events will be remembered for decades, particularly with the help of the Abbott government's Centenary Grants. I have visited many of these projects and I look forward to seeing more and congratulating their recipients in the coming weeks and months. Last Sunday I attended a poignant memorial to the soldiers who served in the Battle of Lone Pine 100 years ago. This memorial was held at the Epping RSL and was very well attended. It was especially wonderful to see younger generations in attendance and learning about this pivotal battle in our history. I again commend the Epping club for their special work.

This is a significant year for all Australians. It has been important that we honour our service men and women at an Anzac Day ceremony. I am incredibly proud of the many groups across Bennelong that have pulled out all stops to commemorate Anzac and of the thousands of people who have turned up to take part in the commemorations and remember our brave veterans, and I thank the organisers of these many fantastic initiatives. This year's commemorations have been incredibly special, and I thank everybody who has been involved in making them so. This 100th Anniversary of Anzac is more than just the commemoration of a battle; it celebrates the birth of a legend and the formalisation of our unique Australian identity. Our great sense of mateship, egalitarianism, ingenuity and larrikinism was formed on those battlefields 100 years ago. Mateship is that rare blend of caring, fun loving, freedom, the gentle nature, the devout, the irreverent, the strong and the heroic.

The Bennelong Cup this year has invited two more countries to participate. Along with Korea, China and Japan, Malaysia will also play. To commemorate Anzac, we have invited New Zealand to join us and play as Australasia. It may surprise you that, in the Davis Cup competition at the beginning of the previous century, Australasia competed together—the great Norman Brookes teaming with Anthony Wilding, taking on the world, beating the world and bringing the cup to our shores. In this year of commemorating 100 years of Anzac, it is so appropriate that Australia and New Zealand again team together to play our neighbours and our friends in this region. The motivation behind the Olympic Games was to seek, through engagement in sport, to bring peace between warring groups. The effort of New Zealand and Australia teaming together to engage in sport in our region will seek to do the same. It is interesting to note that the games of tennis and table tennis start at 'love all'.

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