PM Transcripts

. jAUSTRALIA
PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
DAWN SERVICE, GALLIPOLI
APRIL 1990
The ANZACs who came ashore at this place, at this hour,
on this day, seventy five years ago, and their comrades
who followed them here during the eight long months of
the dreadful combat that ensued, were not, despite all
their efforts, to achieve their military objectives.
But because of the courage with which they fought,
because of their devotion to duty and their comradeship,
because of their ingenuity, their good humour and their
endurance, because these hills rang with their voices and
ran with their blood, this place Gallipoli is, in one
sense, a part of Australia.
So we return to this remote peninsula today, privileged
in the company of some of the diggers who fought here,
and proud to identify in their exploits the very
character of our nation.
We have not come in order to dedicate this place it is
already sacred because of the bravery and the bloodshed
of the ANZACs.
S We should instead dedicate ourselves to keeping bright
the memory of those men who so unstintingly did what was
asked of them on our behalf and to ensuring that the
freedom and peace for which they so ardently yearned, for
which they so bravely fought, and for which so many of
them so selflessly gave their lives, shall not pass away.
Let us remember too, in respect, the valour of those
Tdrkish soldiers who died here in defence of their
country. As dawn broke on this day in 1915, a terrible slaughter
began. Today, as dawn emerges from the blackness of
night, let us hope that the nations of the earth are
emerging from the self-destructive practices of enmity
and will build, in sunlight, a world of peace.