PRIME MINISTER
CHECK~ AGAINST DELITVERY EBRODUTLDLVR
SPEECH FOR THE PRIME MINISTER
VETERANS' FAREWELL BREAK( FAST
LADY DAVIDSON HOSPITAL
SYDNEY 19 APRIL 1990
Ministers, Distinguished Guests,
Veterans, Ladies and Gentlemen
If memory serves me right, it was sometime late in 1988
the Year of the Bicentenary that Kim Beazley mentioned to
me that Bill Hall, as Patron of the World War I Veterans'
Association of New South Wales, had raised with him a great
idea:
That the A * ustralian Government might provide some assistance
for a group of World War I Veterans to return to Gallipoli
for the 75th Anniversary of the landing.
Now we are on the eve of making that idea however
improbable at first glance, however daunting in its
execution a reality.
And I count it as one of the great privileges conferred upon
me by the people of Australia, to be able to take part in
what is truly called the Pilgrimage to Gallipoli.
And the greatest part of that privilege is to be in this
magnificent company this splendid group of veterans, the
Australians of Gallipoli.
WiRen I announced officially last Anzac Day that the
Pilgrimage would indeed take place, I had four
considerations especially in mind.
First was the intrinsic national importance of this
Anniversary, the commemoration of am event which has never
lost its hold on the imagination of the Australian people.
2.
Second was the immense contribution that event made towards
establishing a sense of the Australian national identity;
and equally the importance I have always attached to And
strengthening that sense of identity the fundamental unity ask
of our richly diverse community.. wil
Third, I welcomed the opportunity offered by this And
anniversary for Australia, as a nation, to make a special Aus
act of homage, not only to the surviving veterans of World
War I, but to all Australian ex-servicemen and women. As twe
And fourth, I had very much in mind the growing awareness of
and interest being shown in their country's history by the 18
new generation, as evidenced by the thousands of young qui
Australians who are now making a point of visiting or
Gallipoli; and doing so, not so much as tourists, but in
consciously and deliberately as an act of pilgrimage and
homage. The who
Now, as the veterans here will understand -better perhaps Dis
than anybody else in the world it is one thing to make an Nil
executive decision to go to Gallipoli; and quite another
thing actually to get there. wit hay
It takes planning. But
I am glad to say and you will be very glad to hear that men
the planning for the second landing is a definite Gal
improvement on the planning for the first. the
This time round, it is an all-Australian show. And this ? 4uc
time around it is not Turkish resistance that we face, but oni
wholehearted assistance for which I am most grateful. But
In the organisation of the pilgrimage I pay tribute to my the
colleagues, Ben Humphreys and Kim Beazley. Without their the
efforts and their enthusiasm, this pilgrimage would not have adv
been possible. mat
While the work was being co-ordinated through the Gallipoli Tho
Task Force in the Department of Veterans' Affairs, all of us othl
involved in its various stages have been gratified by the
genuine spirit of co-operation with which the work has been And
done. I sincerely thank and congratulate all concerned. I nexl
recognise in particular the role which has been played by you]
tbe RSL. And I especially wish to thank the staff of
L~ dy Davidson Hospital for their role in providing and And
organising care for our veterans. As
But now, with the planning complete, it is time for us to
ready ourselves for the expedition itself.
I was pleased that over 400 World War I veterans, including
over 100 Gallipoli veterans answered the Government's
invitation last year to join the pilgrimage.
1; 8i " 116,
And I am delighted to say that every Gallipoli veteran who
asked to be included, and who is medically fit to travel,
will be on the Qantas 747 tomorrow.
And I say, quite simply, a more remarkable group of
Australians has never left these shores.
As World War I veterans, they were all volunteers. And
twenty-five years later, with typical Australian disregard
of mere rules, and the fact that most of them were over age,
18 of them volunteered to serve in World War II. In 1939,
quite a few of these veterans put their ages back to meet
or beat the regulations just as some of them had done,
in reverse, in 1914. In uniform and on Gallipoli, aged 161
The travelling group includes a significant number of men
who were decorated, including two winners of the
Distinguished Conduct Medal and three winners of the
Military Medal.
With a track record like that, it is no surprise that they
have volunteered to return to Gallipoli.
But perhaps the most remarkable thing of all is that these
men, all of them in their nineties, should be going to
Gallipoli with exactly the same spirit which impelled them
the first time, 75 years ago.
Much has been written by others about the motives of the
original ANZACS.
But when we read and hear what they themselves say and
they were great writers of letters, journals and diaries,
these ANZACS two things stand out: their sense of
adventure, and their determination to stick with their
mates. Those are the two qualities which, I believe, more than any
other, encapsulate the original spirit of ANZAC.
And now, 75 years on, you have one more adventure ahead; and
next Wednesday, Anzac Day, you will, once again, be with
your mates on Gallipoli.
And then, best of all, we will come home home to
Australia. 1; 8