PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP
FAREWELL TO WWI COMMEMERATION MISSION
SYDNEY 27 AUGUST 1993
This is a rare privilege.
I am delighted to have the chance to farewell people who seventy five years
ago were among those who made an Australian legend.
The human cost of the Great War was so terrible and the political cost of the
peace so catastrophic the Allied victory has never been seen as an
unmitigated triumph.
With the possible exception of Sir John Monash who was never given ultimate
command, the conduct of the war produced no heroes among the generals on
either side on the contrary, as one writer said, It contributed more than any
other war to the widespread belief that military commanders were less
intelligent than average.
The unmitigated heroes of the Great War were the men who did the fighting
the soldiers, sailors and airmen.
And while the war produced many astonishing acts of valour and many of
these were duly acknowledged with medals it was the common soldiers, the
mass of unacknowledged individuals who marched into the most appalling
battles and endured the most terrible suffering and who died in the most
unconscionable numbers, who were the heroes.
I think it is true to say that history judged the Great War to have returned little
of any good except this the bravery and endurance, the comradeship and
humour of ordinary men and women was confirmed for all time.
In Australia it became a by-word.
Building on those nationalist and democratic sentiments which had found their
voice towards the end of the previous century and which the First AIF in
fundamen-ways-ef eoted,-those who.-erwed in the Great War created a
leg end the ideals to which future generations of Australians would aspire, the
evalues by which they would live.
So, as I said, farewelling you today is a great privilege, and it is with a mixture
of wonder and some humility that I do it.
It is also with appreciation: my generation of Australians, all Australians, are in
your debt.
Z0O/ TOd I00ON OV: O 1 6-6nbi-Z
We owe you for more than your service in war but for the service you gave in
the peace, building this country undaunted by depression and another war.
We are grateful for the service you have given and the faith you have had in
Australia for the example you set.
And we are grateful that seventy five years later you have been prepared to
volunteer again.
Your return to France is a reminder of what a hardy and tenacious generation
yours was.
It also reminds us that the Great War has lived on down the years. It found its
way often tragically into countless homes long after the last battle was
fought and it has profoundly affected the character of the nation and its
people. I am only sorry that my schedule will not permit me to be in France when you
are. I will be paying a brief visit to Villers Brettoneux and Hamel in
September. It is a visit I have always wanted to make.
I am also very pleased that on November 111I will have the opportunity to play
a part in the great project to bring home to Australia, and entomb at the War
Memorial in Canberra, the remains of an unknown Australian soldier.
The Tomb -of the Unknown Australian Soldier seems to me to be an act of
quite prolound significance. It is a grand gesture of recognition to the men,
and women who served in the Great War, but more than that, It is an act
which can help bind Australians together now and in the future.
The soldier, to be selected from one of our war cemetries In France, will
represent all Australian servicemen and women, who have given their lives in
all the conflicts in which Australians have served.
It can help bind the generations, help us recognise that we are all part of the
-same story of Australia.
And in all the legacy of Australia's Involvement in the Great War, or any other
war, there is surely nothing more appropriate to symbolise.
It remains only to wish you on behalf of the Government and, I am sure, the
people of Australia a very happy and a safe trip.
It will certainly be a quite extraordinary experience.
-Theaother-side-of-he-workd-ws a-much more -remote place when you first
went there, and all the more so because it was a battlefield.
We can only guess at what memories this trip will bring back to you we hope
that among the inevitable sadness there will also be a little happiness and
pride. Thank you.