Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am indeed honoured and humbled to participate in this discussion of the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli, on the motion moved by the honourable Prime Minister.

One hundred years ago, Turkey repulsed the British and French fleet at Canakkale, decisively ending their attempt to force the straits. Four days later, the fateful decision was made to commit to an amphibious landing at Gallipoli. From this vantage point 100 years later, the Gallipoli campaign marked a turning point in the history of two nations that have been together ever since, Australia and New Zealand. For the great imperial powers of Europe, locked in the lethal stalemate on the Western Front, Gallipoli was in fact something of a sideline. A fleet of obsolete vessels and a relatively small force, reinforced by untested colonials, would attempt to break the stalemate by reopening a sea route to the Russians in the Black Sea, thus drawing Turkish troops away from Caucasian theatre of operations. It ultimately failed this objective.

From the Anglo-French perspective, the campaign that we commemorate the centenary of this year at Gallipoli was merely one failed attempt to break the stalemate in Europe. For the Ottoman command, the campaign was critical to prevent the opening-up of a new front that they could ill afford. From this perspective, the successful defence of Gallipoli should have been a victory that ensured the survival of the Ottoman Empire. But, with the clear-eyed hindsight of history, we can see this campaign today in a very different light. To the fledgling nations of Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, this encounter—this great battle at Gallipoli—is now remembered as a critical juncture in the birth of independent nationhood. Indeed, for the Turks under Kemal Ataturk, since regarded as the father of modern Turkey, it was the beginning of a new nation. Far from being a failure, this was the campaign in which Australia and New Zealand proved to the world and to themselves that they could survive the withering heat of modern warfare. As we look back it is sometimes difficult to remember how modern that warfare was. The First World War was the war which included the last cavalry charges in history and it was the war that included aeroplanes for the first time; it included people on bicycles and people in a modern invention, the tank. It was a critical juncture in warfare.

In this great historical irony, what appeared to be a great victory for the Ottoman Empire was in fact a watershed moment for the nationalist movement that was to replace it. For Australia's official war historian, Charles EW Bean, 25 April 1915 was the day 'the consciousness of Australian nationhood was born.' Bean made it clear that the Australians did not fight because of any hatred of the Turks; rather, he said:

…the big thing in the war for Australia was the discovery of the character of Australian men. It was character which rushed the hills at Gallipoli and held on there …

It was that same recognition of the character of so many from this country who died in that Great War that was commemorated by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people around Australia on Anzac Day and in events surrounding Anzac Day this year. My electorate was no different from the electorates of all the other members of this place. At the dawn service at Warrandyte some 3,500 to 4,000 members of the local community came out to commemorate the Centenary of Anzac. At the morning service at the Templestowe RSL, some 3,000 people came out—numbers significantly more than the services at which large numbers of people turn up each other year. At the Doncaster RSL dawn service, some 2,500 people attended. Even at the Donvale Rehabilitation Hospital there were some 200 people, compared to maybe 50 on other occasions. Throughout the electorate, at local football ovals there were services during the day, and at the Croydon RSL some 3,000 people attended the dawn service. I would like to place on record our appreciation for the presidents, the chairs, the committees and the office bearers of each of those RSLs who year after year organise these memorial events. I thank Hank Vanderhelm who was standing in for John Pearson at Warrandyte, Michael Flanagan at Templestowe, Charles Collins at Doncaster and Sam Berrie at Croydon.

For the first time in 24 years I was not able to attend the services in my own electorate because I was representing the government on Anzac Day at the Western Front, which I will come to the moment. When I returned after having been in Europe for Anzac Day I organised a morning tea at the Doncaster RSL to which I invited members of the Returned Services League branches and various organisations in the district, and we had some 80 or so people in attendance on that day. It was my opportunity to say to them on behalf of a grateful nation and particularly on behalf of the constituents of Menzies how much we appreciate the ongoing work that they do. It is not just Anzac Day each year—it is Remembrance Day and the commemoration of other events such as the Battle of Long Tan. They also do ongoing work, particularly for veterans and their families, through Legacy and other organisations in the electorate. It is something that we in this country can be very proud of.

As I said, I was honoured to represent the government on Anzac Day at the Western front, particularly at the service at Villers-Bretonneux, where some 7,000 people withstood the cold, driving rain before dawn and at dawn. Most of them walked back the three or four kilometres into the small village of Villers-Bretonneux, where the mayor had provided a breakfast, and then there was a town service in Villers-Bretonneux. There was also a wonderful concert of schoolchildren from not only Villers-Bretonneux but also other villages around the area. The Australian government helps to fund that and gives out a number of awards to students each year. It was wonderful to see the local students singing Waltzing Matilda as well as other Australian songs in their repertoire at that town service. We later drove for some two hours and stopped in the middle of a field which was once the bloody, muddy fields of World War I where the locals in the 1920s erected a small cross called Le Petit Croix, where each year representatives of the government of Australia stop along with local French men and women to commemorate the First World War, before going onto Bullecourt—another scene of ferocious fighting during the First World War—where 2,000 to 3,000 people, mostly Australians and New Zealanders, were in attendance. By then it was a warm afternoon on the Somme for the town service, which involved the commemoration of both Australian and local French fighters in the First World War, and that was followed by a march of about a kilometre or so out to the Bullecourt Digger memorial, in the fields where the fronts were in the First World War, for that service. We concluded the day by driving to Ypres in Belgium where there is that famous service at Menin Gate which has been held every night of the year for decades. Again, there were thousands of people gathered there on that occasion for that service to mark the special time of Anzac Day. I was privileged to be at Menin Gate, along with my counterpart the Minister of Defence from New Zealand, the Hon. Gerry Brownlee, to lay wreaths.

On all of these occasions, whether it was overseas at the Western Front, whether it was the people who went to Gallipoli, whether it was local services in your electorate and my electorate, Mr Speaker, hundreds of thousands of Australians turned out because this was such a significant occasion in the history of this country, and it is so important for this parliament to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli.

Debate interrupted.