25 April 2013
ANZAC Day Address by the Australian High Commissioner, Matt Anderson
His Excellency, the Governor General, Sir Frank Kabui and Lady Kabui
Honorable Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo
RAMSI’s Special Coordinator, and my friends and colleagues of the Diplomatic Corps – on this day I acknowledge His Excellency the New Zealand High Commissioner
Commissioner and members of the RSIPF
Commander and members of the PPF
Commander and members of the CTF and serving members of the ADF
To ex-service personnel, distinguished guests, friends, boys and girls.
Gud fella morning olketa, and tangio tumas fo kam lo hia lo dispefela special day blo Australia and New Zealand
We gather at this hour on this day to remember the Anzacs, who leapt ashore at Gallipoli on the Turkish Peninsula, and who landed on history’s page on 25 April 1915.
We also remember all those who served or suffered during times of conflict or crisis - be they service personnel or civilians - and they include our Solomon Islands hosts whose scouts stood side by side with the extraordinary band of Coastwatchers who ‘watched and warned and died that we might live.’
And we stand here today, joined in spirit with thousands of others, who gather at places with hallowed names like ANZAC Cove, Passchendaele, Villers Brettoneux, Bomana, Isurava, Hellfire Pass, Kapyong, Long Tan and Tarin Kout, to honour the ordinary men and women who forged for us this grand tradition. Ordinary men and women – 102,000 mostly citizen soldiers - who paid the supreme sacrifice, and whose names are etched in bronze on the honour roll of the Australian War Memorial.
In John Hepworth’s book about Australian diggers in New Guinea he wrote:
‘they pinned no medals on him, they made no speeches, we need no medals or speeches, we know him and remember. He was just a good, ordinary bloke - that’s a point - that’s an important thing - he was an ordinary bloke like you and me’.
Today, we celebrate those ordinary people who prove capable of extraordinary deeds, and in their doing, we seek hope enough for all of us.
And we gather, as we shall always gather, not to glorify war.
In 1915, LTCOL Pompey Elliott was in command of the 7th Battalion at Lone Pine where, high above ANZAC Cove, his men won four Victoria Crosses in a day.
In a letter home Elliott later wrote:
‘When anyone speaks to you of the glory of war, picture to yourself a narrow line of trenches two and sometimes three deep with bodies mangled and torn beyond description by the bombs ...Live among this for days ... This is war and such is glory – whatever the novelists may say.’
Historian Charles Bean devoted his life to honouring the first ANZACs. Anyone who enters the Australian War Memorial is greeted by his immortal words:
‘Here is their spirit, in the heart of the land they loved ...’
But such is the strength of their spirit that it’s here in Solomon Islands too.
And it lives on, through an unbroken lineage, in the deeds of the men and women of RAMSI’s Combined Task Force who, after a decade of distinguished service, are likely marking their last ANZAC Day in Solomon Islands.
ANZAC Day is surely where history and spirit meet.
Leaving the last word to Charles Bean, he said of the ANZACs: “with their lives they purchased a tradition beyond all human power to appraise, and set for all time the standard of conduct for the Australian and New Zealand soldier.”
Might we dedicate ourselves, on this day, to prove worthy of this sacrifice.
Lest we forget