Australians, friends

I am immensely privileged to represent Australia here — at Gallipoli — during this special time of commemoration.

It is as if the hours from dawn till now on this Anzac Day 2010 represent the passage of months, 95 years ago:

• from the first assault on Turkish soil by Australian and New Zealand forces at Anzac Cove
• to the offensive  mounted here at Lone Pine, the furthest point of our inland encroachment.

Indeed, today, in our hearts, and minds and strides, we endeavour to travel through time and territory in the hope that we may begin to understand what our soldiers faced in their defence of our nation.

At times like these, when our souls are full to overflowing, our language may fail us, our words unable to express the exact measure of our needs and thoughts and sorrows.

Instead, we trust our senses to tap into the images and sounds that make up the chapters of this story, and are securely woven into our national memory.

As we stand on this tight, flat, open crest – named Bloody Ridge, in the company of the fallen, and a lone Aleppo Pine tree, the intensity of the battle that was fought here remains clear and present:

• four days of unrelenting slaughter and bloodshed
• the lives of more than 4000 Turks and 2200 ANZACs lost
• in an area the size of two tennis courts
• with enemy front lines separated by only a couple of cricket pitches
• seven Victoria Crosses earned in three days for acts of valour in the face of the enemy bullets, bayonets, rifle butts, fists and boots
• whatever it took: to defend our homeland and families, to assert our newfound nationhood, and to uphold and bear out the sterling qualities that characterised our men.

Today, rich in the knowing of these things, and fresh in the promise of the new light this morning brings, we assemble before these sacred gravestones and monuments to thank, honour, and remember.

Fellowship unites Australians here, at home, and across the world as we gather:

to reflect on the courage and contribution of the one and a half million Australian servicemen and women who have served our country since the start of World War One:

• the fighters, the peacekeepers, the humanitarians, the rebuilders,
• and the one hundred thousand, or more, of those who have died;

to observe their sacrifice and their loved ones’ grief, the freedoms they earned for us, and the values they taught us;

to declare our hearts in places
  of memorial and prayer,
  of solemnity and joy,
  of community and quiet;

and to affirm the everlasting worth of our commitment to Anzac Day.

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep…
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
 
Australians, friends, lest we forget.