PARLIAMENT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Contact us | Advanced search |   search
  1. Home
  2. Hansard
  3. Legislative Assembly by date
  4. 3 May 2000

Anzac Day

Printing Tips | Print selected text | Full Day Hansard Transcript | « Prior Item | Item 28 of 51 | Next Item »


About this Item
SpeakersGibson Mr Paul; Webb Mr Peter; McBride Mr Grant
BusinessMatter of Public Importance


    ANZAC DAY
Page: 5147

    Matter of Public Importance

    Mr GIBSON (Blacktown) [4.28 p.m.]: I draw to the attention of the House the growing importance of Anzac Day. I thank the Parliament for giving me an opportunity to speak about this important date on the Australian calendar. All honourable members know that Anzac Day, which is observed on 25 April, has survived the test of time. For the second year in a row I attended the Anzac Day dawn service at the Blacktown Returned Services Leagues Club. Last year large numbers of people attended that service, but this year the numbers were even greater. Only two original Anzacs are left, yet the crowds turn up every year. People want to know the reason why. Anzac Day is growing in importance as young people look for a heritage. At present we do not seem to have a heritage that is of any importance.

    Americans have their heritage. They will talk people deaf about the Mayflower, the pilgrims, Davy Crockett and Audie Murphy. The English talk about their thousands of years of rule, the wars and the castles. Some castles in England are thousands of years old. In Germany people talk about Martin Luther and so on. The young people today are hungry for a heritage. The more they learn about Anzac Day the more they can look upon it as their heritage. For years the young people of this nation have looked to America or England for their heritage, but they have found their real heritage in Anzac Day. That is the main reason the importance of Anzac Day has grown to the extent that it has. On Anzac Day I was talking to some young people at Blacktown. They told me a story about which I have done a bit of research. I did not know, and I am certain the average Australian does not know, some of the heritage connected with Anzac Day. When Liliard wrote the words to the poem The Answer in reply to Colonel McCrae, he said:
        Fear not that you have died for nought,
        The torch you threw to us we caught,
        And our hands will hold it high,
        Its glorious light shall never die,
        Will not break faith with you who lie,
        On many a field.
    That was part of the Anzac tradition. The Anzacs set an example to all by their comradeship and their concern for their fellow man. Their example of courage and fortitude has been handed down to future generations, and we must instil in generations to come the attitude of the Anzacs of loyalty, dedication and service to others. The Anzacs demonstrated the futility, the agony and the hopelessness of war. Theirs was an impossible task undertaken against impregnable odds. Australia was called on to be among the forces to fight in World War 1. Australia was the youngest nation called; it was only 14 years old. During the long months at Gallipoli, soldiers lived with death and danger under dreadful conditions which are almost beyond comprehension and description.

    The heritage of young people heritage starts when they read the statistics of what happened at Gallipoli. The Australian and New Zealand forces landed on Anzac Beach at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. At the same time a large combined British and French force landed in the Cape Helles area. The Allied casualties of this heroic but disastrous campaign were 33,532 killed, a massive 78,518 wounded and 7,689 missing. Of that number 2,721 New Zealanders were killed and 4,752 wounded. From there the Anzac tradition was moulded, and it has gone through every battle to the present day. The young people I was talking to at Blacktown told me a story about the Light Horse Brigade. We must remember that every person who went to war in those early days was a volunteer. Many of the Australians were young kids who were aged 15 or 16 years. They told fibs about their ages to get into the Army, defend their country and fight for the democracy we enjoy today.

    The story the people at Blacktown told me about the Light Horse Brigade is worth repeating. In 638 the Muslims took control of Jerusalem and held it for 1,600 years. The young Aussie troops were first thrown into battle at Gallipoli and they ended up with bloody noses. Their next task was to see if they could liberate Jerusalem. The history of Jerusalem shows that was virtually an impossible task. The Muslims had taken over in 638 and eventually Christians and Jews were not welcomed. Over the years 11 or 12 crusades tried to liberate Jerusalem. All attempts failed; they could not get through the Turks and into Jerusalem. In 1795 Napoleon tried. Napoleon is regarded as one of the greatest military brains of all time. He could not do it. Perhaps the sinking of his fleet by Nelson had something to do with his failure. The English had 28,000 troops, cannons and tanks and they could not do it, and in desperation they turned to the Aussies and said to the Light Horse Brigade, "Will you have a crack at it? We have tried and we cannot do it."

    It should be borne in mind that there were 4,500 Turks in the trenches. Behind them was wave after wave of barbed wire. Behind that were wave after wave of machine-guns, and cannons were behind them. They extended from Gaza to the wells at Beersheba. They were totally manned and nothing could get through. So the authorities said to the Aussies with their slouch hats and emu feathers, "Can you have a crack at it?" The Aussies, as Aussies do, said, "Give us a crack at it." They charged. The Turks could not believe that anybody would be foolish enough to take them on head-on. Today it is history that not only did they get through Gaza and the wells of Beersheba, but they were the first into Jerusalem and liberated Jerusalem. They changed history forever. That is our heritage. That is why Anzac Day has taken on the importance it carries today, because the young people are starting to learn about our history.

    There have been many debates in this Chamber about whether we should learn about Australian history. I did not learn at school the things I have mentioned today. I doubt whether any member of this House would have learnt the story of the Light Horse Brigade at school. That is the sort of history that should be taught in our schools. The young people of today are learning that history and they have picked it up because it is their heritage. As I said before, America has the Mayflower, Audie Murphy and Davy Crockett but our heritage is even better. Our heritage is such that if Spielberg was an Australian it would be the number one movie in the world today; it is a story of the greatest battle and victory in the history of war as man has known it.

    As I said, 800 Aussies jumped on their horses and charged into Beersheba and Jerusalem, with the cannons, crossfire, machine guns, barbed wire and the 4,500 Turks in the trenches. Only 34 Aussies were killed in the charge and that has to go down as the greatest victory of all time or the greatest gift that God has given Australia for a long time. We were responsible for liberating Jerusalem, and that is our heritage. That is why I believe Anzac Day has taken on the importance it has, and that is why the young people have looked at Anzac Day and beyond. On Anzac Day we do not celebrate the glorification of war; we remember and pay respect to the people who laid the foundation for our democracy and for the greatest nation in the world.

    Mr WEBB (Monaro) [4.37 p.m.]: I also speak on the matter of public importance: the growing importance of Anzac Day. The honourable member for Blacktown has encapsulated the spirit of Gallipoli and the essence of what the Anzac heritage is all about. His description of the last major cavalry charge at Beersheba has been recorded in Hansard. It is a wonderful story and it typifies the Aussie spirit we all know so well. His comments about education and where the Anzac story is told are important. Our children do not know some of that history and it is important that they are taught about it both in our schools and in our communities. The Australian heritage goes back before World War I. It goes back to the Boer War and then to the Great War, the war to end all wars. I have spoken before in this House about my great-uncle, who went off to the Great War in France and never came home. We have a suitcase full of letters that he sent to his sister, my grandmother. My mother's father, Cedric Blake, was gassed in France in the First World War and took a long while to die. In fact, he did not die until 1956.

    The commitment went on. The spirit of Anzac is what fired our young people to enlist for World War I. My father, John Webb, and his brother-in-law, Rockly Buckmaster, both joined up to represent Australia in World War II. My great-uncle, Charlie Walker, who is still alive today and who recently moved from Sydney to the North Coast, was a rat at Tobruk. He told me some wonderful stories about North Africa during the Second World War. The spirit went on during the Korean War. Interestingly, the national Korean War memorial on Anzac Parade in our nation's capital was dedicated two or three days before Anzac Day, a week and a half ago. Sir William Keys, who unfortunately is ill at this time, attended the dedication of that memorial. He is an esteemed past president of the RSL in Australia. He worked tirelessly to ensure that that memorial was created.

    The commitment went on. Some years after the Korean war Australians made a commitment to the theatre of war in Vietnam. Perhaps the stories about Vietnam do not equal those of the light horse charge at Beersheba or even Gallipoli, but the whole spirit of Anzac continued in Vietnam. Following that, about a decade ago Australians made a commitment in the Gulf War. Recently I heard an address by the then captain of the HMAS Melbourne about the involvement of Australians in that conflict. Recently the spirit went on when Australians, including people from my electorate, represented this nation in Timor. It is interesting to note the role of the leader of those forces, Peter Cosgrove, and where he has gone with that today.

    Australia has committed to many other peacekeeping roles without knowing what the outcome would be. That is part of continuing the process of educating people across the world about our Anzac spirit and where we go with that. I attended the Anzac Day services and march in Queanbeyan this year. We had record crowds, and people were blocking the streets during the dedication of the commemorative wall, on which the 802 names of people who signed up to serve in World War II and after were dedicated. The wall was opened by the member for the Federal electorate of Eden-Monaro, Gary Nairn. One of his duties was to honour the commitment by the Chairman of the Honour Roll Committee in Queanbeyan, Laurie Davis, who is also a World War II veteran. The secretary of the Honour Roll Committee is Robyn Holden.

    The major commitment of those people and the Honour Roll Committee to work towards a commemorative honour roll in Queanbeyan, which was opened on Anzac Day last, is of major importance. On the eighty-fifth anniversary of Anzac Day the President of the Queanbeyan Eden Monaro Legacy Group, Rod Studholme, spoke of the dawning of a new era as we enter this new millennium. The spirit of Anzac certainly goes on. The President of the Queanbeyan RSL, Mr Matt Helm, also spoke of that commitment. The most interesting words spoken on the day were uttered by John Oddy, a Queanbeyan resident and captain of St Edmund's College in Canberra. He said that when he was first asked to speak, apart from being honoured, he thought he did not know a lot about Australia's history, particularly back to Gallipoli, World War II and other wars.

    Mr Oddy first asked his father, and his father said of his grandfather, "He didn't talk about it much." When I was a small boy I asked my father the same questions, and he said the same sort of thing: "We were involved. It wasn't too good". And he left it at that. But the Anzac spirit has gone on from there. John Oddy asked his peers and friends at school what they knew about Anzac Day and Australia's commitment to world peace. Some of the stories he was told showed that people have knowledge here and there, that they understood what Gallipoli was about, that a great sacrifice was made by Australians, and that people made a commitment to put their name down to head off across the world in either a peacekeeping role or in a greater role, with the possibility of not returning.

    Recently I was honoured to be asked to become a patron of the Canberra-Queanbeyan branch of the National Service and Combined Forces Association of Australia. That association comprises a great group of friends from the Vietnam War and other conflicts who come together to share their stories. The memories will go on. The Anzac spirit forms the basis of our society. It underpins and is the foundation of Australian culture today. It is important that the memories do not die because they tell a story about the result of war. They tell a story about conflict and the commitment of those who become involved.

    In conclusion, heritage is probably the most important thing. Australia's spirit, the Anzac spirit and the combination of Australian and New Zealand forces going back to the Boer War and Beersheba are renowned. They are wonderful stories that must never be forgotten. It is vital that we tell our children about those commitments and those stories. It is vital that we tell people that members of our communities and our families laid down their lives for Australia and for world peace. Lest we forget. We must remember them.

    Mr McBRIDE (The Entrance) [4.47 p.m.]: First I congratulate the honourable member for Blacktown and the honourable member for Monaro on their contributions to this debate. Anzac is a tradition born at Gallipoli. By the late 1970s and early 1980s the importance of the tradition was waning in this country. There are many reasons for the slow diminution of the flame. Clearly, the light from the flame was failing. I am typical of post World War II Australians who are linked by birth to the history of World War I and World War II by my family's service in the great wars. However, I found that somehow the spirit had been lost. The tradition of Anzac was reawakened by Australia Remembers: 1944-1995, which was an initiative of the then Federal Labor Government. The flame was rekindled and is burning brighter every year.

    That is witnessed by the tens of thousands of people who now attend the dawn service on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey on Anzac Day. These scenes are beamed into our homes, and the telling statement is the representation of Australian youth at the service. The flame is again burning brightly in the hearts and minds of our nation. An interesting breakout story at Gallipoli this year, which was reported in the media, was about a couple of young Australians who camped overnight and who were lightly dressed and trying to keep warm during the service. Upon inquiry as to the lack of clothing they said that they had lent their sleeping bags to an old couple from Gosford on the Central Coast. I refer again to Australia Remembers: 1944-1995 and its impact on my local community, particularly our youth.

    Tom Picot, the president of the Tuggerah Lakes RSL sub-branch and chair of the Dobell Australia Remembers Committee, organised a school program to re-awaken the spirit. Tom organised a group of veterans to visit our local schools to relate their first-hand experiences to our youth. This was complemented by other programs throughout the Central Coast. Nowadays thousands of people attend the dawn service on the Central Coast. More importantly, hundreds of young people, including babies, now attend the dawn service. I can remember back to the 1970s and 1980s, when hardly anyone attended these dawn services, particularly our youth. A massive change has occurred, which I attribute to the Australia Remembers commemoration program.

    I believe that the program gave the veterans and those who served in World War I and World War II and other theatres of war the respect and opportunity, in their twilight years, to reflect on their experiences with the young people coming through our community. They were allowed to do that with pride, reverence and celebration. For the first time in about 20 years we are seeing a rekindling and strengthening of the permanency of the flame that was established at Anzac. One of the most eloquently demonstrated experiences for me was the interment ceremony for the unknown soldier in Canberra. I do not know whether honourable members remember that. For me, it was the most moving experience I had ever had. As members would be aware, we have a memorial to the unknown soldier in Hyde Park.

    To have the remains of an Australian returned from France and interred in Australia strikes at the heart. Those pictures struck at the heart of the young people in our nation. They broke through the barrier of cynicism and all those other barriers that have been put up, and they pierced the heart of the people following those programs. For that I congratulate the Government. What is most important for the heart and soul of Australia is the continuation of the programs. As previous speakers have said, we have the greatest democracy in the world, we have the freest country in the world, and through the Anzac tradition we are passing that on to the youth of Australia. That will cement Australia's position for the future.

    Mr GIBSON (Blacktown) [4.52 p.m.], in reply: I thank the honourable member for Monaro and the honourable member for The Entrance for their contributions to this matter of public importance. I should like to pay my respects to those who died in war and all those who returned to help defend our nation. I refer not only to Gallipoli, but also to Vietnam and Timor in the present day. As I have said, one of the greatest forces ever to leave this nation was the Australian Light Horse, and their history is definitely our heritage. Australians being the way they are, their attitude is, "She'll be right, mate; don't worry about it." I was reading a report this morning about one of the young people who took part in the charge of the Light Horse Brigade.

    His mother wrote to him and said that they were regarded as heroes. He wrote back to her and said, "Heroes nothing. We had a job to do. As a matter of fact, our horses hadn't had water for three days and we hadn't had water for three days as well. When we got through Gaza the horses smelt the water. Actually, it wasn't us charging into the wells at Beersheba and Jerusalem, it was the horses. They smelt the water, and they took off. All we were doing was sitting on the back of the horses and the horses did the rest." I suppose that is the Australian way of reluctantly saying they were not really the heroes that they were.

    Beersheba was not the last success of the Light Horse Brigade. They were the first into Gaza, they were the first into Jerusalem, they were the first into Beersheba, and they were the first into Jericho. The young people of today acknowledge Anzac Day not only to remember what happened—the victories, the defeats, the deaths and terrible infliction of wounds that took place during those battles—but because they honestly believe that this is our heritage. As I said at the commencement of my contribution, for many years Australians, young Australians in particular, have been looking for their heritage. Now they have found it. As I have said before, if Spielberg were in Australia this heritage would become one of the leading movies of our time, because it is probably the greatest story ever told.

    The Bible said that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. I can assure honourable members that Jesus would have wept a second time when he saw the result of what took place at Gaza, Beersheba and Jerusalem, when Jerusalem was liberated by 800 Aussies. The young people have come back to celebrate Anzac Day proudly. They are very proud of their heritage, they are very proud of their country, and they are very proud that today, at last, they have a heritage. I am certain that the heritage will grow as the years continue, and I am certain that Anzac Day will be remembered as the number one heritage day as far as Australians are concerned. Lest we forget.

    Discussion concluded.

         Contact us | Job opportunities | RSS feeds | Site help
Copyright & conditions of use | Privacy | Authorised user login