Ladies and gentlemen. More than 1.4 million men and women served our nation during the first and second world wars. This is an extraordinary number of people for a small country.
The First World War helped shape our national character. The Second World War saw us defending our own shores. We have a proud record of fighting to defend our nation, our freedom and the freedom of others.
Our servicemen and women who served in both world wars as they do today, with courage, with resilience and with compassion.
These qualities not only shaped our past but they also steel us for the present and prepare us for the future. Those are the same qualities that we've seen again displayed in the lives and deeds of so many assisting in the Victorian bushfire effort. Courage in the face of danger, resilience in the face of adversity, and compassion to those around them who have suffered.
The Australians who served in world wars secured for our nation our safety. But they secured our safety and our security at a price. Along with our allies, many Australians made the ultimate sacrifice and never returned to their families, they never returned to our shores.
More than 100 thousand gave their lives in these two world wars. Ponder for a moment that number, 100 thousand. 100 thousand lives which in their impact on their families and their communities extended across the generations of the 21st century. An extraordinary sacrifice. Personal and national.
It is right therefore that we commemorate all those who served. All that they've achieved and all those who gave their lives. It's also right that we honour those who worked in Australia on the home front supporting the war effort.
We already have memorials commemorating World War I and World War II in the state capitals. and the Australian War Memorial born out of the first World War, opened during the second stands as a great monument to our past in these great conflicts. But I am delighted to be here to participate in this launch of a design for a dedicated World War I and World War II memorial on Anzac Parade. On our avenue of heroes, which is how I describe Anzac parade, we should commemorate the heroes of those two world wars.
I am pleased to announce today Richard Kirk Architects of Brisbane submitted the winning design for these memorials. I am sure Richard Kirk and his team will work the Memorials Development Committee to develop a timeless national monument for the appreciation of all Australians and to honour these brave men and women as we should.
Richard and his team are widely respected for their interest in the role well-made building play in the communities and environments they serve. And the memorial will play a crucial role in the life of our nation. It will join the other monuments on Anzac Parade and provide a focus for reflection and commemoration for those two world wars.
As you can see from the model it fits brilliantly within Walter Burley Griffin's plan for the national capital. The memorial will communicate an inspirational and timeless message that reflects the spirit, sacrifice and commitment of the Australian nation during these two great conflicts. I will remind us of those who served, it will remind us of those who supported the war effort on the home front and it will remind us that in rising to the challenges of war, we've forged a national character that gives us strength in difficult times.
There is something important about monuments, something that those associated with this memorials committee I'm sure themselves, have reflected on long and hard. As we visit and travel to see the great monuments to these wars, whether in Washington or London or another capital and see the importance which they have in telling their national stories about the participation in these great conflicts, we in Australia have embraced the same spirit of seeking in the monuments we construct and the buildings we fashion, a way of never forgetting them.
So that any school child, at any time, who takes the walk up Anzac Parade need not at that stage have opened a history book but they will see in the monuments that we've constructed in our nation's capital, monuments to heroism, bravery and those who forged our national character.
I congratulate the Memorials Development Committee on its vision and its commitment. I congratulate Richard Kirk and his team on their design being selected and I strongly encourage all Australians to offer their support to the development of this new great national monument for our nation's capital. I thank you.