Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk on the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC forces' landing at Gallipoli, one of the most important commemorative events in our nation's history. Like many of us in this House, I have had the honour this year of being involved in a range of community events, commemorations and school projects throughout Reid to mark the Centenary of Anzac. It has given me and many others in my electorate an opportunity to reflect on the great sacrifices that the men and women of our armed services have made and continue to make for all of us so that we can live in our wonderful, free and tolerant society.

Between 50,000 and 60,000 Australians served at Gallipoli. More than 19,000 were wounded and 8,709 were killed in action. There were also 11,000 New Zealanders at Gallipoli: 2,721 were killed in action and 4,752 were wounded. Of course, on the Centenary of Anzac we reflect not just on the Gallipoli campaign but on the entire First World War and the century of service which has flowed from it. Australia's involvement in the First World War came at a great cost to our nation. Out of a population of just five million in 1914 more than 417,000 Australians volunteered to serve in the First World War. Some 332,000 served overseas. Australia suffered one of the highest casualty rates of the allied forces: more than 61,000 made the supreme sacrifice and some 152,000, just fewer than one in every two, were listed as casualties by the time of the armistice in November 1918. The sheer number of memorials to the fallen across our country demonstrates how widely these losses were felt and perhaps goes some way to explain why the Anzac legend has lived on through generations since. One of the great things I have taken away from all the Anzac ceremonies and events that I have been to this year is that I have no doubt that the memory of those servicemen and women will continue to live for the next 100 years and well beyond. The reverence and solemn understanding that I have seen in Reid schoolchildren has assured me of that—that future generations will continue to respect the sacrifice that those men and women made for our country.

I congratulate the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of Anzac, Senator the Hon. Michael Robinson, for the excellent and heartfelt work that he and his office have undertaken in engaging with schools in our local communities in the lead up to the Centenary. I am also confident that the Anzac story will live on in the families of our newest Australians, as I have seen migrant communities from a broad range of backgrounds paying their respects to our Anzacs. I will talk more specifically about the Australian Turkish community in Auburn in a moment.

Amongst the many events that I was invited to attend this year, I would like to mention a few in particular. The Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway dawn service in Concord was held the weekend before Anzac Day. It was a very special occasion, including an original piece of classical music, Meeting the Sun, composed by Elena Kats-Chernin and performed by the Australian Royal Navy Band and the Sydney Children's Choir, featuring lyrics taken from the poems of Australian diggers. This was followed by an address by His Excellency General the Hon. David Hurley AC DSC (Retired), Governor of New South Wales. Congratulations to John Haines, chairman of the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway, and Alice Kang from Concord Hospital. Our local RSL subbranches performed their duty proudly, as always, and held services across the electorate. I would like to thank the RSL subbranches of Auburn, Burwood, Concord, Drummoyne, Five Dock and Lidcombe for their efforts in putting on their services for local communities.

I would like to thank the Reid Anzac Centenary Committee for assisting me in finding and selecting a range of projects for the Anzac Centenary Local Grants funding: Dr Abdurrahman Asaroglu, the president of the Gallipoli Mosque, Greg Blundell from Homebush Public School, Allan Chapple from Homebush RSL, Marlene Doran from Homebush RSL, Colin Hodges from Burwood RSL, Alice Kang from Concord Hospital or, as we know it, 'the Repat', Robert Ridge from Five Dock RSL, Bob Turner from Concord RSL and Harry Withers from Homebush RSL. The projects we funded focused on the restoration of memorials in the community, including $36,707 for the restoration of the Davey Square Memorial; $21,550 for the construction of the Davey Square Reserve Memorial Wall to display the wall plaques from the former Homebush-Strathfield RSL subbranch; $38,600 for the restoration of the Concord War Memorial precinct in Queen Elizabeth Park; and $3,913 for the restoration and relocation of the Concord Public School honour board and stone memorial to former students who fought in World War I.

The many schools across Reid have all participated in the centenary with their own services, class projects and memorials—unfortunately, too many to name in the limited time that I have here today. But I would like to pay a special thanks to the students who have put in so much work to research and learn about the servicemen and women from World War I and the campaigns and battles they took part in. Of course, the teachers who have guided them through that process also deserve praise for the important work that they do in helping our future generations develop and grow into tomorrow's leaders.

I would like to mention a number of events undertaken by the Turkish Australian community in my electorate. In Reid I am fortunate to represent the Western Sydney suburb of Auburn, which, in amongst the united nations of new and future Australians, is home to a strong Turkish Australian community. The 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli was a commemoration of special importance for Australians from a Turkish background. While our two countries are close friends today, in the first world war we both paid dearly with the blood of our young men. With our history inescapably linked through conflict, the famous words of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk echo through the years as a symbol of the healing that has occurred in the decades since:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

With such an intertwined history between Turkey and Australia, it is perhaps no surprise to hear that this centenary commemoration was held in special reverence amongst Australians with Turkish heritage. The CEO of Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, Ertunc Ozen, and executive secretary, Gunes Gungordu, travelled to the centenary commemorations in Gallipoli to pay their respects to fallen Anzacs on behalf of the Turkish community in Australia. Auburn Gallipoli Mosque held a moving Lone Pine memorial service to commemorate both the ANZAC and Turkish fallen. The Wall of Friendship was unveiled in Auburn Memorial Park, with the inscription of the same words from Ataturk on that memorial.

The Auburn RSL sub-branch president, Mr Ron Inglis, provided a fitting summary when he said:

I think it's excellent, I think it's a fine thing that while we certainly remember the sacrifices of soldiers on both sides and the terrible conditions that they faced, and we certainly honour them for their bravery and sacrifice, but at the same time it's really wonderful to come together in a community event.

I will finish with a personal story of two celebrations within the one day in my electorate in Reid. At Rosebank College in Five Dock I listened to students talk about their great-grandfathers and their service at Gallipoli. I hopped in the car at one o'clock, and at two o'clock I hopped out and we started a celebration at Amity College, an Islamic Turkish school in Auburn. An hour before I had been listening to Australian kids talk about their great-grandfathers who were Australian soldiers at Gallipoli. An hour later I had the honour and joy of hearing Turkish-Australian children talk about the service of their great-grandfathers on the Turkish side. Some 100 years ago their great-grandparents fought half a world away, 10 feet from each other in hand-to-hand combat on a daily basis. Today you travel an hour down Parramatta Road and you move from one service celebrating the Australian sacrifice to another celebrating the Turkish sacrifice. I think that is one of the joys of serving in my local electorate of Reid.

We acknowledge the legacy the Anzacs forged for the servicemen and servicewomen who have followed in their footsteps and we pay tribute to those who continue to uphold the Anzac tradition to this day. We will remember them. Lest we forget.

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