Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, Air Commodore Geoff Michael, Mr Kim Beazley, the Leader of the Opposition, Deanne Kelly, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, returned men and women, ladies and gentlemen. Only a few short weeks ago we had a wonderful commemoration not only here in Canberra but around Australia to mark the 60th anniversary of the Japanese surrender in the Pacific War in 1945 and to pay homage and respect to those who gave their lives in World War II and those who fought to defend our country and to preserve its freedom and our values.
Today with a special focus, as Air Commodore Michael said, on those battles which involved a direct threat to the security and integrity of the Australian mainland we turn a special focus and a special gaze. Printed on your programme are those very memorable words of Australia's war-time Prime Minister, John Curtin, when he said "...it is now work or fight as we have never worked or fought before... What the Battle of Britain required, so the Battle for Australia demands..." Very direct, very evocative words, which even with the passage of more than 63 years is a reminder of the real peril that our country then faced. Those words were uttered on the 16th of February 1942, one day after the unimaginable had happened - the fall of Singapore, and three days before Darwin was bombed on the 19th of February 1942. And for 20 months over 100 air raids took place on the Australian mainland from Exmouth to Townsville. And it was on the 5th of September 1942, as part of the broader battle of Milne Bay, that the Japanese invasion beachhead was thrown back into the sea, thus inflicting for the first time a defeat on the Japanese Imperial Army. And as those very memorable words of Sir William Slim in his memoirs it was the Australian forces who first inflicted that kind of reversal on the seemingly invincible Japanese army.
What is important and what is special and what is very relevant to all generations of Australians is that the particular battles and the particular phase of World War II that we mark today is the phase in which the Australian mainland and the very security and freedom and presence of our country was directly threatened. And it was during that time that this country rallied and this country fought, in the words of Curtin, as never before. And it was not only the fight of the million men and women in uniform, but it was also the fight of the six million civilians of Australia at that time who realised that their very future was at stake.
So this day, this week, importantly is an occasion about which we should know more if we understand the history of this country's contribution to the defence of liberty. We should know more about the Battle for Australia, not to know less about the other battles in which Australians were involved - on the Western Front and Gallipoli and North Africa and all the other theatres of war where Australians fought and so many of them died. But because of its particular relevance to the direct threat to Australia, something we had never before and have never since faced. It should have a special place in the understanding of this country's history and the understanding of its contribution to the defence of liberty around the world. And so I pay, and I know on behalf of all of you, a special honour to those men and women who participated in the Battle for Australia, whether as members of the services or as civilians, all played a crucial role in repelling the attack. All will remember with lasting gratitude the contribution made by our friends from the United States, particularly in the Battle of the Coral Sea that was so important to the defence of our country. And so in this first week of September, which has become for a number of historical reasons the occasion to specially mark the Battle for Australia, we thank those who participated in it, we will never forget their contribution to what we now enjoy and we will always honour the fact that they fought for the Australia we now enjoy and the Australia we all love.
[ends]