Anzac Day: Peter Cosgrove calls for Australians to mark 'day of respect'
The Australian governor general, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, has called on all Australians to mark a “day of respect” this Anzac Day.
In his Anzac Day message, the former defence force chief said that while it had different meanings for Australians, the day was above all “about remembering and paying our respects”.
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“On this day of respect, we remember the toll conflict takes on those who serve and the sacrifices made by so many country towns, so many families, so many loved ones,” Cosgrove said.
“We will always be there to support those from across this land, from across generations who stand in harm’s way for our nation. Their deeds inspire us and are part of us – we are together as one.”
The final campaigns of the first world war was the focus of this year’s commemorations. It’s the centenary of the last battles that led to the armistice being declared in November 1918.
At the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, excerpts from letters and diaries of first world war soldiers were read for the dawn service.
The acting prime minister, Michael McCormack, attended in place of Malcolm Turnbull, who was in France for the centenary of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux.
The Villers-Bretonneux event marked the day, 100 years ago, when the Australian 13th and 15th brigades successfully retook the village from German forces in a surprise night attack.
Villers-Bretonneux is now home to the Sir John Monash Centre, a $100m facility that pays tribute to the thousands of Australians who lost their lives on the western front.
In Australia, female veterans and military personnel led marches in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. It was the first time contemporary veterans led Melbourne’s Anzac Day march, in which thousands of people took part.
“It reflects the changing face of our veteran community,” Victoria’s RSL president, Robert Webster, said after the dawn service. “It’s right that we honour them.
“Some of them have been through some pretty rough times … some of them have done six and seven rotations through Afghanistan and various places.”
At Brisbane’s Anzac Square dawn service, the state governor, Paul de Jersey, reminded the crowd, which filled the nearby streets and overpasses, of those Queenslanders “who sacrificed their tomorrows for our today”.
“This morning we remember the men of the Australian imperial force, crouched together in boats on the other side of the world, 103 years ago, awaiting their call to battle,” he said.
“Among those men were many Queenslanders of the brave 9th battalion, the first recruited in Queensland, among the first ashore that day, among the first to die.”
Anzac Day is a day to celebrate the Australian spirit, not to glorify war, one of Australia’s senior defence officers told the dawn service in Sydney.
Air Vice Marshall Steven Roberton delivered the address lauding the original Anzacs, members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. “They changed that simple acronym
of their Army Corps into a word that stands for unity and mateship, courage and determination,” he said.
He said the legacy of Anzac day needed to be continued, more than 100 years since the tragic landing. “Anzac day is not about glorifying war, but about celebrating the Australian spirit, which we share with the New Zealand counterparts,” he said.
The mood at Hobart’s Anzac Day dawn service was sombre, but the message was optimistic. A Vietnam veteran, Bill Counsell, was one of the thousands who rugged up on a chilly but clear Wednesday morning at the city’s cenotaph, overlooking the city and Derwent river.
“It’s good to see the people,” Counsell said. “And that they haven’t forgotten us, shall we say. People can quite easily forget what’s gone on in the past and get on with their lives.
“The lesson is to learn from our past and try to not make the same mistakes – which as humans, we find it very difficult to do.”
Thousands of Darwin residents attending the dawn service were told Anzac Day held a particular resonance for them given the city’s history of being attacked during the second world war.
More than 90 bombs were dropped on the city 76 years ago, and Darwin was still home to 12,000 defence force personnel to whom the nation was grateful, the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, told the crowd.
Crowd numbers were down slightly in Perth at the Kings Park State War Memorial service, with about 30,000 people in attendance. Brigadier Peter Moore told the crowd that Anzac Day was about remembering and honouring those who have served their country.
“We are not here to glorify war,” he said. “We are here to reflect on the almost incomprehensible sacrifice of so many young lives in so many conflicts that Australia has been involved in and recognise the service of all.”
Other overseas events were planned for Turkey, Belgium, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
A team of 26 held a dawn service at Casey research station on Antarctica on Wednesday morning. It was led by expeditioner Rebecca Jeffcoat, who has been with the royal Australian navy for 28 years and served in the Middle East.
“I’ve been to many Anzac Day events over the years and today’s service, held against a backdrop of icebergs in Newcomb Bay, is one I will never forget,” she said.
The team, who are spending the winter at the research station, gathered under the flagpole in -15C.
“Expeditioners took the opportunity to proudly share their family member’s service experience; in the Boer war, lost at sea in world war two and in Afghanistan,” Jeffcoat said.
The service was followed by a gunfire breakfast and games of twoup.