PM Transcripts

PRIME MINISTER
Embargo: 12.01 am 25 April 1995
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
ANZAC DAY 1995
Today, across the continent and in many places around the world, we are
gathered to remember our countrymen and women who, because they
believed in Australia and saw their duty to it, were prepared to lay down their
lives in war.
This is the eightieth anniversary of the event from which Anzac Day derives,
the landing at Gallipoli and the tragic and disastrous military campaign which
followed it. Anzac Day is not a celebration of military victory, or a glorification
of war. But it is the most important and profound day in Australia's national
life. It is the day we pay tribute to Australians who died so that we could live in
peace and continue the task of building a good and prosperous country. It is
the day when we reflect upon the meaning of their sacrifice. It is the day
when we ask our children to reflect and learn what it means to love Australia
and have faith in it.
We took from Gallipoli, and we have taken from every subsequent war in
which Australians have fought and died, the message contained in that
sacrifice: that it is good to be brave and to endure difficulty, and that we are
bravest, most able to endure and most likely to succeed when we know we
can rely on each other, when we stick together.
Anzac gave us this creed to live by as Australians and as a nation. It has
given us strength in war and in peace.
The spirit lives on in the ceremonies taking place today. It is present in the
Australia Remembers celebrations to mark the end of World War II. It is
there among the young Australians who are presently touring the battlefields
on which their great grandfathers fought.
We hope and believe that it lives on in all our lives and that, by remembering
those who died, the faith will be carried on into future generations of
Australians. CANBERRA April 1995