High Commissioner's ANZAC Day speech
ANZAC DAY 2014
Kranji War Memorial Cemetery
Singapore
Address by the Australian High Commissioner
Philip Green
EACH YEAR, ON THIS DAY, AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS GATHER AT THEIR CENOTAPH.
FROM THE SMALLEST COUNTRY TOWN, IN THE REMOTEST PART OF OUR CONTINENT, WE JOIN IN THIS SOLEMN CEREMONY.
- THERE ARE POEMS AND READINGS
- WREATHS ARE LAID
- THE ODE TO THE FALLEN IS RECITED
- A MINUTE’S SILENCE IS OBSERVED
- THE LAST POST IS SOUNDED
BLEARY-EYED, WE GATHER HERE IN SINGAPORE AS WE WOULD IN PERTH, OR TIMARU, OR TAMWORTH.
WE MAKE THE EFFORT OF A PRE-DAWN AWAKENING AS A SYMBOLIC GESTURE TO THE MASSIVE SACRIFICE MADE BY SO MANY IN WAR.
IT IS STRIKING TO ME THAT, IN THIS AGE OF IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION, THAT THIS SERVICE – ONE OF RITUAL AND REFLECTION – IS BECOMING AN EVEN MORE PROFOUND PART OF THE NATIONAL LIVES OF NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.
RITUAL AND REFLECTION ARE MOSTLY IN DECLINE IN THESE EARLY DECADES OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.
ANZAC DAY BUCKS THE TREND.
AS TIME GOES ON, THE TRADITION SWELLS.
THIS YEAR, THE NINETY-NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GALLIPOLI LANDINGS, THERE WILL BE MANY THOUSANDS OF AUSSIES AND KIWIS AT THE SERVICES AT GALLIPOLI; AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, LIKE YOU, PAYING TRIBUTE AROUND NEW ZEALAND, AROUND AUSTRALIA, AND AROUND THE WORLD.
CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND ARE GIVING GREATER ATTENTION TO THE SACRIFICE OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT, AND THE MANY WHO DIED, FOR THEIR COUNTRY.
WE HAVE WITH US TODAY SOME WHO HAVE DONE MILITARY SERVICE FOR NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA, AND WE PAY PARTICULAR TRIBUTE TO THEM. OUR RESPECT FOR THEM IS NOT DENOMINATED BY RANK, BUT I ACKNOWLEDGE THE PRESENCE WITH US TODAY OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL (RETIRED) JOHN GREY, FORMER CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF.
WE REMEMBER THE AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS WHO FELL DURING THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN. BUT WE ALSO RECALL THOSE WHO HAVE PERISHED ON ALL SIDES, FROM ALL NATIONS, IN ALL CONFLICTS.
IN A FEATURE THAT IS UNIQUE TO NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA AMONG WAR REMEMBRANCES, WE COMMEMORATE A DEFEAT – A MASSIVE ONE. WHERE TEN THOUSAND AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND LIVES WERE LOST.
WE AUSTRALIANS COMMEMORATE WITH OUR NEW ZEALAND MATES.
WE COMMEMORATE WITH THE OTHER NATIONALITIES WHO SERVED IN THAT CAMPAIGN - THE GALLANT CANADIANS, INDIANS, SOUTH AFRICANS, PAKISTANIS, BANGLADESHIS, BRITISH AND FRENCH.
SPECIALLY, WE COMMEMORATE WITH OUR ENEMIES THEN, OUR GOOD FRIENDS NOW, THE TURKS.
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IT IS A STRUGGLE FOR US TODAY, WITH OUR COMFORTABLE AND SECURE LIVES, TO APPRECIATE WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE TO LIVE IN THE AGE OF THE GREAT WAR; AND EVEN MORE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THE HARDSHIPS BORNE BY THOSE WHO SERVED AT GALLIPOLI.
ONE WAY TO HELP US UNDERSTAND IS TO RETELL THE STORIES OF INDIVIDUAL DIGGERS.
THOUSANDS LOST THEIR LIVES. BUT LET ME SHARE WITH YOU JUST ONE ...
JIM MARTIN WAS BORN IN TOCUMWAL, NEW SOUTH WALES IN 1901. BARELY A DOZEN YEARS LATER, HE HAD DONE WITH SCHOOL AND WAS WORKING AS A FARM HAND.
HANKERING FOR SOMETHING MORE IN HIS LIFE, HE WANTED TO ENLIST. ALTHOUGH ONLY FOURTEEN, HE WAS TALL AND LOOKED OLD FOR HIS AGE. THE RECRUITING OFFICERS WERE EITHER CONVINCED (OR PRETENDED TO BE CONVINCED) THAT HE WAS EIGHTEEN.
EVEN SO, HE NEEDED PARENTAL PERMISSION. HIS MOTHER INITIALLY REFUSED. IT WAS ONLY AFTER HE THREATENED TO RUN AWAY, TO JOIN UP UNDER ANOTHER NAME, AND NOT WRITE TO HER THAT MRS MARTIN RELENTED.
HE WAS JUST FOURTEEN YEARS AND THREE MONTHS WHEN HE ENLISTED IN THE FIRST REINFORCEMENTS OF THE 21ST BATTALION, WITH THE SERVICE NUMBER 1553.
BY AUGUST 1915, HE WAS BOUND FOR GALLIPOLI, AS HE TOLD HIS MOTHER IN A LETTER - QUOTE - “TO HAVE OUR SHARE OF THE TURKS”.
BY THE NEXT MONTH, SEPTEMBER , HE WAS STATIONED IN THE TRENCH LINES AT GALLIPOLI NEAR COURTNEY’S POST.
HE WROTE TO HIS FAMILY IN OCTOBER THAT THE TURKS WERE ONLY 70 YARDS AWAY. BUT, IN AN APPARENT EFFORT TO SPARE HIS MOTHER, HE WENT ON “DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME AS I AM DOING SPLENDID OVER HERE”.
“SPLENDID” WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ACCURATE – COURTNEY’S POST WAS ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACES IN GALLIPOLI. BUT EVEN JIM PROBABLY DID NOT KNOW HOW MUCH HIS DESCRIPTION TEMPTED FATE.
LESS THAN A MONTH AFTER WRITING THAT FATEFUL WORD, JIM WAS EVACUATED TO A HOSPITAL SHIP SUFFERING FROM ENTERITIS.
ONLY DAYS LATER, HE DIED OF HEART FAILURE AND WAS BURIED AT SEA. THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN LASTED 8 MONTHS, BUT JIM’S TOTAL STAY ON THE PENINSULA WAS A MERE SIX WEEKS.
PRIVATE MARTIN’S STORY IS BUT ONE OF THOUSANDS FROM GALLIPOLI, AND THERE ARE THOUSANDS MORE FROM CAMPAIGNS SINCE –THE SOMME, GUADALCANAL, EL ALAMEIN, KAPYONG VALLEY, LONG TAN, AND TAREN KOWT.
AND AROUND US HERE AT KRANJI LIE A FURTHER THOUSAND AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS, VICTIMS OF THE BATTLE FOR SINGAPORE.
PRIVATE MARTIN’S STORY REMINDS US OF SOME OF THE REALITIES OF GALLIPOLI, AND OF WAR MORE BROADLY.
MOST OBVIOUSLY, IN AN AGE WHEN CHILD SOLDIERY IS REPELLENT, IT IS DEEPLY TROUBLING TO HEAR OF A BOY NO OLDER THAN MANY IN THE CHOIR HERE TODAY EXPERIENCING THE PAIN OF WAR.
PRIVATE MARTIN’S STORY ALSO REMINDS US OF THE LOSS EXPERIENCED BY THE LOVED ONES OF THOSE WHO SERVED. GALLIPOLI IS TOLD AS A STORY OF MEN, BUT MANY WOMEN WERE AFFECTED BY IT. JIM MARTIN’S STORY REMINDS OF THE MOTHERS, WIVES, SISTERS AND DAUGHTERS LEFT AT HOME, AND THE LIVES THAT WERE WRECKED BY THE DEATH OR MAIMING OF THEIR MEN.
IT REMINDS US THAT THE TURKS WERE BY NO MEANS THE ONLY ENEMY THAT THE DIGGERS FACED. THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY SERVED AND THE DISEASE THAT ACCOMPANIED THEM WERE EQUAL DANGERS.
AND JIM MARTIN REMINDS US THAT, IN AMONG THE VAST NUMBERS OF CASUALTIES OF THAT BRUTAL CAMPAIGN, EACH WAS A LIFE STORY WORTH TELLING. NOT NECESSARILY A STORY OF HEROISM OR MILITARY SIGNIFICANCE. BUT EACH ONE, A HUMAN SPIRIT, GONE TOO SOON.
ANOTHER WAY INTO THE WORLD OF THE ANZAC DIGGER IS THROUGH LITERATURE.
FOR ME, THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE BY BRYCE COURTNEY AND HIS POWERFUL NOVEL, SOLOMON’S SONG.
IN THE NOVEL, THE CENTRAL CHARACTER, BEN - A TASMANIAN OF NEW ZEALAND HERITAGE - WRITES TO HIS SISTER:
“I TELL YOU THESE THINGS NOT BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO TAKE PITY ON THE LADS, BUT SO THAT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE LIFE OF AN ORDINARY SOLDER HERE ON GALLIPOLI. WE LEFT AUSTRALIA NOT CARING WHAT THE WAR WAS ABOUT, IT WAS A CHANCE TO FIGHT FOR KING AND COUNTRY TO SHOW WHAT WE WERE MADE OF. NOW, WITH SO MANY DEAD AND SO LITTLE RESOLVED, I MUST QUESTION WHY MEN GO TO WAR AGAINST EACH OTHER. IF YOU MARRY AND HAVE SONS OF YOUR OWN, I PRAY THAT YOU WILL TEACH THEM WAR IS HELL TO BE AVOIDED.
...
WE ALL BELIEVE NOW THAT IT IS ONLY THE THROW OF THE DICE IF WE COME OUT OF THIS FIGHTING INFERNO ALIVE OR DEAD. WAR IS A GAME OF CHANCE. A MATTER OF LUCK.
WHEN A MAN IS SHOT AND KILLED WHERE YOU YOURSELF STOOD MOMENTS BEFORE, YOU PUT IT DOWN TO LUCK. GOD DOES NOT GET THE CREDIT, HE LOVED THE MAN WHO DIED AS MUCH AS YOU, BUT IT IS LADY LUCK WHO IS THANKED. I CONFESS THAT EACH MORNING AS MY EYES OPEN TO ANOTHER DAY, IT HAS BECOME MY HABIT TO REACH FOR THE TIKI ABOUT MY NECK AND TO HOLD IT TO MY LIPS FOR A MOMENT. I DO THE SAME BEFORE GOING ON PATROL OR INTO BATTLE AND I DO IT AGAIN LAST THING AT NIGHT. THIS LITTLE GREEN MAN THAT HANGS ABOUT MY NECK HAS BECOME MY GREAT GOOD LUCK, AND I SHOULD BE VEXED IF I LOST HIM”
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WE REMEMBER TODAY THAT 16,000 NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS LANDED AT ANZAC COVE AT DAWN ON 25 APRIL 1915. WE LEARN THAT, SHOCKINGLY, BY THE END OF THAT SINGLE DAY, TWO THOUSAND ANZACS WERE DEAD OR BADLY WOUNDED.
BY THE LAST EVENING OF THE CAMPAIGN, ON 20 DECEMBER 1915, OVER EIGHT THOUSAND AUSTRALIANS AND TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED NEW ZEALANDERS LAY DEAD IN THE BATTLEFIELD. A TOTAL OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND ALLIED TROOPS HAD FALLEN – AND AN ESTIMATED THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND TURKS.
LIVING IN THIS COMFORTABLE AGE, OUR CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGE CANNOT DO JUSTICE TO THE SCALE OF THIS CARNAGE.
A POET OF THE TIMES GIVE BETTER EXPRESSION TO OUR FEELINGS …
“THERE’S A LONELY STRETCH OF HILLOCKS;
THERE’S A BEACH ASLEEP AND DREAR;
THERE’S A BATTERED BROKEN FORT BESIDE THE SEA.
THERE ARE SUNKEN, TRAMPLED GRAVES
AND A LITTLE ROTTING PIER;
AND WINDING PATHS THAT WIND UNCEASINGLY.
THERE’S A TORN AND SILENT VALLEY;
THERE’S A TINY RIVULET
WITH SOME BLOOD UPON THE STONES BESIDE ITS MOUTH.
THERE ARE LINES OF BURIED BONES;
THERE’S AN UNPAID WAITING DEBT:
THERE’S A SOUND OF GENTLE SOBBING IN THE SOUTH.”
[ANZAC Cove, by Leon Gellert]