Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Saturday afternoon, I went to a small rural community in my electorate called The Sisters. There, there was an incredibly moving commemoration to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine. As most in this chamber and in the general community will know, the Lone Pine battle was an incredibly important battle in the history of the Anzac conflict. In total, 2,277 Australians lost their lives in the Battle of Lone Pine. The total Ottoman death toll was between 5,000 and 7,000. The Lone Pine battlefield was named for a solitary Turkish pine that stood there at the start of the fighting. The tree was situated near the centre of the eastern line of the Australian and New Zealand trenches around Anzac Cove.

An hour-long bombardment of the Turkish trenches at 4.30 pm on 6 August 1915 preceded the main charge. Packs had been dumped to the rear and each man wore a white armband or a piece of white material attached to his back. This was to help tell friend from foe in the close fighting that would soon be upon them in the Turkish trenches. Attacking battalions—the 2nd, 3rd and 4th battalions, all from New South Wales—packed into the Anzac forward positions. At 5.30 pm, the whistles blew and, as the rays of the evening sun shone into the eyes of the Turkish defenders, the Australians rose and charged. The Turks were taken by surprise—Australian forces against formidable entrenched Turkish positions, sections of which were securely roofed over with pine logs. In some instances, the attackers had to break in through the roofs of the trench systems in order to engage the defenders. The main Turkish trench was taken within 20 minutes of the initial charge, but this was the prelude to four days of intense hand-to-hand fighting, resulting in 2,277 Australian casualties.

The fighting at Lone Pine for both sides during these Turkish counterattacks was all about throwing bombs across hastily erected barriers, dashing around corners in trenches, and getting off a few rounds at the shapes of advancing men, slipping over the dead and avoiding the dying and wounded. General Birdwood later reported:

The boys went right through these Turkish works, and had regular hand to hand fights every yard. To show you the nature of the fighting I may mention that in one corner we came across eight Turks and six Australians, all dead, who had evidently fought it out man to man to the last.

One of the important things which occurred after the Battle of Lone Pine was that soldiers grabbed pine cones from that last lone pine, which was destroyed in the battle. It is quite extraordinary that, from the pine cones which were returned from that lone pine in Gallipoli, two direct descendants of that tree stand in the electorate of Wannon. One stands in the Warrnambool Botanic Gardens and the other stands at The Sisters, this small rural community in Western Victoria.

On Saturday, the community from The Sisters gathered to mark the 100th anniversary. They did so under the direct descendant of that lone pine. As the sun went down, the community commemorated. It was incredibly moving. Archie was there. From the time it was planted, Archie watered the lone pine seedling with his brother. Archie told me that he remembered ensuring every day after school that the seedling was properly nourished so that it could grow into the tree that it is today. He stood proudly as a contributor to the commemoration not only as someone who ensured that that lone pine continues to signify what occurred in Gallipoli 100 years ago but as someone who fought in the Second World War. He fought for us to defend our way of life.

Eric Bogle came along and played a song. Before he played the song, he talked about how he came to write it. He came to write it because he wanted to commemorate what had happened at Lone Pine 100 years ago, but he did not quite know how to do it. The words came to him after he attended the funeral of a veteran who fought in the Second World War. When he went to that funeral, the children of the veteran spoke of the horrors of war that their father had been through. He had always said to them how fortunate he was to have survived when so many around them had lost their lives. They said that their father always said to them, 'Every day you wake up, be grateful for the fact that you are alive, still living and you have a day to live.'

That was the theme of the song that Eric Bogle sang on a Saturday afternoon at The Sisters with the sun going down, with 400 people gathered around the Lone Pine to commemorate not only what our soldiers did on that day at the Battle of Lone Pine but also what they did on the shores of Gallipoli to keep our nation safe and to ensure that the liberties that we hold so dear continue today. If we have any say in it, those liberties will continue for many days to come.

I think the commemoration of the 100th celebration of the Anzac campaign has been something that this nation can be truly proud of. Nothing has given me greater pleasure than to ensure, through the grant scream which the federal government put in place, that all the memorials that we have in the electorate of Wannon now stand as a proper tribute to the service that our Anzacs gave 100 years ago. Also, there are the additional commemorations which were able to occur as a result of what we did through providing that funding. Right across the electorate of Wannon, I have attended moving ceremonies and seen the local community ensure that the legend of the Anzacs will continue for another 100 years.

I think that is the true testament of what we are doing here in these speeches today and through the actions the government are taking to commemorate Anzac, the Anzac spirit and all that the Anzacs did. That is because if we do not continue to remember the sacrifices that have been made and the reasons as to why they were made, we are letting those people down who fought for us, who gave up their lives for us and who gave the most important sacrifice that anyone can give. They were prepared to lay down their life to defend our nation and our way of life. It has been an honour to speak on this motion.

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