Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I have great pleasure and a deep sense of pride to speak to this ministerial statement on the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli and join with others who have spoken in this chamber about our involvement and what it means to us to commemorate that landing at Gallipoli and what it has given to our nation.

On 25 April 1915, young Australians from all walks of life rushed ashore at Gallipoli in the early dawn. They created, unknowingly at the time, a legend that would endure for more than 100 years. I believe from what we have seen throughout this 100th anniversary commemoration this year that it is in good hands in the hands of the next generation of Australians, who are taking up what is their possession forever, a priceless gift—the spirit of the Anzacs, the legend that in so many ways defines the values of our nation. I think so many Australians want to have attached to their own identity the enduring qualities that I believe describe what the Anzacs created that day—courage, determination and mateship.

Above all, as they rushed ashore that morning in the early dawn, the Anzacs had the courage to do what they had to do, regardless of the dangers. They were young, enthusiastic and eager, like so many young people. We have all gone through it ourselves. We feel at that age a sense of indestructibility. They were determined, because they were representing Australia. They were serving under the Australian flag. They were proud. They had been trained. They had been recruited. There was in many ways the sense that it would be an adventure for them. They were determined that they would carry out their duty in the name of Australia as they went ashore at Gallipoli 100 years ago.

The enduring quality of mateship and identifying with your mates is something that lives with us all today. We will talk loosely sometimes about a mate we have. But, for them, as they went ashore, they knew they had a mate beside them who would not let them down, that they would not be abandoned if they got in trouble because their mate was there with them. That is another one of those enduring values that I believe describes in many ways what it is to be Australian.

There is a wonderful site on the Gallipoli Peninsula. I had the great privilege as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs at the time to be able to establish that new site where we commemorate Anzac Day. I remember going there on a cold day in November, wondering whether we could move our commemoration out of a Commonwealth war cemetery to Ariburnu, right on the beach between Anzac Cove and North Beach. I thought to myself, 'How could you have lived in the open on these rugged hills above where I'm standing, day after day, night after night, with the real threat that you might lose your life but determined to survive there?' I knew I had a huge responsibility to make sure that, whatever we did, it was going to be a site where we would go in the future to commemorate Anzac Day.

It was with the cooperation of the local farmers in the area and the local Canakkle council that the Turkish government assisted in the process of having land allocated right on the beach where in fact the Anzacs first landed at North Beach on the Gallipoli Peninsula. So it had historical significance. It was the site that we all know now is where we commemorate Anzac Day.

I want to touch on the fact that, as we were commemorating the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli this year, no matter where you looked, from the smallest country towns to the biggest cities, from the Australian War Memorial here in Canberra to places where Australians meet all around the world, on 25 April this year, Australians young and old were there because they were proud. But they were also there to remember those who lost their lives not only on that fateful day at Gallipoli but throughout the last 100 years—including, prior to Federation, in the Boer War. They remembered those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom and the way of life that we have but that sometimes I feel is taken for granted in this wonderful nation of Australia.

I am also proud of my own constituency. Even the smallest communities in the last 10 to 15 years have refurbished the war memorials that were erected in good faith sometimes 80 or 90 years ago. In some places, the community has diminished in population numbers. But the residents and councils still there have kept faith with the ideals of those who established a memorial in their town.

One of those places, just west of my own home town where I grew up, is Muckadilla. I remember as a small child on Anzac Day seeing diminishing numbers year after year attending Anzac services there. Mainly they were those who had served. It got down to two or three people attending that service on Anzac Day. This year, there were over 300 who made a pilgrimage, honouring those from the area around Muckadilla who have served. In many ways, the centenary of the Gallipoli landings has ignited something in all Australians to want to know more about it. They stepped forward in their thousands and thousands all around Australia and many other parts of the world.

In a remote community out on the edge of the Simpson Desert at Bedourie, they had about 100 horsemen on horseback at a dawn service on a lonely hill to the north of the town—a place they call the Vaughan Johnson Lookout. In the early dawn it was very cold, but they were there. They made a very special effort, some bringing their horses over 300, 400 or 500 kilometres to participate in that dawn service on horseback, which reminds us all of the Light Horse and those who served in the Light Horse in the First World War and still serve in the Light Horse regiments today. I also want to acknowledge that in towns like Goondiwindi people gathered together the history of those from the area who had served and their families—their names, their records—and compiled the most wonderful collection of the service records of over 500 men and women. They established a record that could have been lost in time were it not for people stepping forward. I commend the people who have done this in so many towns like Goondiwindi, as in Wallumbilla, to the east of my home town of Roma. So many communities did likewise. They collected the history of those from their community who served; they produced books, established little memorials and made collections of memorabilia, which, throughout time, may have been lost were not for the commitment of people wanting to participate in this year's Centenary of the landing at Gallipoli.

In conclusion, I have been invigorated and in many ways stimulated to see so many young people taking hold of a possession that they will have for their lives—the possession of the legacy of the Anzacs, the spirit of the Anzacs, that lives on 100 years since that landing at Gallipoli. I am sure they will pass it on to their children and their grandchildren. I know that our Anzac Day commemoration, the spirit of the Anzacs, is in great hands in the next generation of Australians, as it is likewise with the generations today. I thank the House.

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